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Rafael Toral
Pedro Melo Alves: Conundrum Vol. 1 - Itself Through Disappearance
by Mark Corroto
Great rock drummers are often ignored. One never pays attention to them during a performance because they are excellent, like Rolling Stones stalwart {Charlie Watts. If, however, they are not up to scratch, one definitely will notice. The same and more so can be said for jazz and improvising drummers. Talent, imagination and creativity are at a premium in this domain. Pedro Melo Alves is an excellent example of what an inventive and expressive drummer can be. Alves can be ...
Continue ReadingSpace Quartet: Directions
by Mark Corroto
Listen closely to Directions by Rafael Toral's Space Quartet and try to ignore the voice in your head of June Tyson chanting, “space is the place, space is the place." While this is an instrumental production and Toral was born more than fifty years after Sun Ra, a similar aura permeates these six tracks. It's not that Toral is dealing with the evolution of big band music through the lens of Afrofuturism, like Sun Ra's early use of synthesizers and ...
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