The weekly online radio series Jazzed and Blue: Profiles in Blues and Jazz is back and is now available for download at Rockwired.com and features an exclusive interview with Oscar Perez of the Oscar Perez Nuevo Comienzo regarding the brand new release Afropean Affair. In the opening segment, Perez discusses the inspiration behind the tracks of his new project, working with a stellar combo comprised of saxophonist Stacy Dillard, trumpeter Greg Glassman, percussionist Emiliano Valerio, drummer Jerome Jennings, and bassist Anthony Perez and his wide musical pallete. The second half of this edition of Jazzed and Blue will feature music from such jazz and blues artists as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Victor Wainwright and the Wild Roots, Teddy Pressberg, Veronneau, The Dangling Success and more. “After being gone for about three months, it is great to finally be back and doing this show again. “ says Jazzed and Blue host Brian Lush. “It's a real treat to end a long week with a show like this and to kick back and listen to some great music."
Perez is part of a new generation of musicians busy erasing the old distinctions between straight ahead and Latin jazz, forging thrilling new group concepts by blending Afro-Caribbean rhythms and post-bop idioms. With this second album, Perez places himself firmly in the forefront of this rising movement. The CD will be released on October 11 on Chandra Records.
Featuring Perez with his stellar young band Nuevo Comienzo, Afropean Affair focuses on the pianist's original music, which he designed to showcase his group's improvisational prowess and conservatory-honed facility for interpreting extended compositions. The combo features some of the most prodigious young players on the scene, including saxophonist Stacy Dillard on tenor and soprano, Greg Glassman on trumpet and flugelhorn, percussionist Emiliano Valerio, drummer Jerome Jennings and bassist Anthony Perez (who also happens to be Oscar's younger brother).
“I grew up listening to my father's albums of traditional Cuban music," says Perez, 36. “But we're American jazz musicians and we're not trying to be anything else. The concept I'm going for filters everything through the writing. In picking the members of the band, they needed to have their own sounds. Jerome is a drummer who just loves to groove. He's not playing straight Cuban rhythms. He's always mixing it up, which is true for all of us."
Perez is part of a new generation of musicians busy erasing the old distinctions between straight ahead and Latin jazz, forging thrilling new group concepts by blending Afro-Caribbean rhythms and post-bop idioms. With this second album, Perez places himself firmly in the forefront of this rising movement. The CD will be released on October 11 on Chandra Records.
Featuring Perez with his stellar young band Nuevo Comienzo, Afropean Affair focuses on the pianist's original music, which he designed to showcase his group's improvisational prowess and conservatory-honed facility for interpreting extended compositions. The combo features some of the most prodigious young players on the scene, including saxophonist Stacy Dillard on tenor and soprano, Greg Glassman on trumpet and flugelhorn, percussionist Emiliano Valerio, drummer Jerome Jennings and bassist Anthony Perez (who also happens to be Oscar's younger brother).
“I grew up listening to my father's albums of traditional Cuban music," says Perez, 36. “But we're American jazz musicians and we're not trying to be anything else. The concept I'm going for filters everything through the writing. In picking the members of the band, they needed to have their own sounds. Jerome is a drummer who just loves to groove. He's not playing straight Cuban rhythms. He's always mixing it up, which is true for all of us."
