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Vince Mendoza - Nights on Earth (2011)

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It's been some time since we've heard Vince Mendoza working in such a personal context. Oh, we've heard plenty from Mendoza over the last decade, as he's handled arranging for the likes of Bjork, Sting and Joni Mitchell. In fact, Mendoza earned two of his six career Grammys for Mitchell's 2003 Travelogue and 2000 Both Sides Now projects.

But Mendoza, who has presided over the Metropole Orkest for the past six years, hasn't released an album of his own compositions in a remarkable 13 years. That in itself makes Nights on Earth, due on Oct. 25 from Horizontal Jazz, something of an event—and that was before Mendoza unveils an overstuffed guest list of superstar friends that includes guitarists John Abercrombie and John Scofield; bassist Christian McBride; organist Larry Goldings; drummers Peter Erskine and Greg Hutchinson; members of the Metropole ensemble; and saxophonists Bob Mintzer and Joe Lovano, among others.

Still, you shouldn't get the wrong idea. There are actually a multitude of traditions present, despite the abundance of jazz standouts. Appearances by Hector del Curto, an Argentinian master of the bandoneon (a kind of accordion); Tom Diakite, a Malian kora player and singer; Luciana Souza, the Brazilian vocalist; and Algerian drummer Karim Ziad serve to underscore the broader landscape that Mendoza travels across the breadth of this release. This is, you're reminded, who he is—part jazz guy, part concert master, part pop-music savant, part world-music impresario, and completely intriguing.

So, we have Souza, singing in her native Portuguese, on the undulating bossa nova “Ao Mar," appearing just after epic solos from the likes of Abercrombie and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire on “Poem of the Moon." Similarly, “Shekere" is bolstered by Diakite's elliptical vocal and his bracing turn on the kora, a 21-string harp like instrument, then Lovano turns in one of his most emotionally available performances in memory on “Beauty and Sadness." Sort of like a mash up between Mendoza's 1990 Blue Note release Start Here and 2009's world music gem Viento: The Gacria Lorca Project. “Gracias" perhaps melds the two ideas best of all, as a bata groove from Luis Conte provides the perfect foundation for a church pew-rattling interlude from Goldings. Bookending all of this are two quietly effective moments: The album opens with a flamenco-inspired tribute to Mendoza's father, and closes with a duet for cello and bandoneon simply called “Lullaby."

Throughout, Mendoza's arrangements provide the perfect contextual atmosphere, perhaps best heard on “Everything Is You," where a classically inspired cluster of instruments—cello, flutes, harp and piano—sets the stage for a pair of moving solo turns by pianist Alan Pasqua and then Mintzer.

In the end, the album cover here, a darkly captivating photograph of the Aurora Borealis over twilight landscape, couldn't be a more perfect metaphor for Mendoza's long-waited comeback project. Those charged particles seem to burst out nowhere in the northern sky, only to dance together as if by design. The result is something improvisational yet profoundly wonder filled, something both expansive and specific.

Just like Nights on Earth.

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Track Listing

Otoño; Poem Of The Moon; Ao Mar; Conchita; The Stars You Saw; Addio; Shekere; Beauty and Sadness; The Night We Met; Gracias; Everything Is You; Lullaby.

Personnel

Vince Mendoza
composer / conductor
Additional Instrumentation

Vince Mendoza: composer, conductor, arranger, keyboards (7, 9); Lorraine Perry: vocals (10); Luciana Souza: vocals (3); Tom Diakite: kora and vocals (7); Jim Walker: flute (2, 11); Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone (5, 8); Bob Mintzer: tenor saxophone and bass clarinet (3, 11); Stephane Guillaume: tenor and soprano saxophone (4, 7); Ambrose Akinmusire: trumpet (3); Rick Todd: french horn (1, 4, 11); Jim Self: tuba (1, 4); John Abercrombie: electric guitar (2, 5, 8); John Scofield: electric guitar (3, 10); Nguyên Lê: electric guitar (1, 4, 7); Romero Lubambo: acoustic guitar (3); Louis Winsberg: acoustic guitar (1); Alan Pasqua: piano (1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11); Kenny Werner: piano (2, 5, 8); Larry Goldings: organ (1, 4, 10); Michel Alibo: electric bass (7); Jimmy Johnson: electric bass (1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11); Christian McBride: acoustic bass (2, 5, 8); Peter Erskine: drums (1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11); Greg Hutchinson: drums (2, 5, 8); Karim Ziad: drums (7); Alex Acuna: percussion (1, 3, 11); Luis Conte: percussion (4, 9, 10); Christo Cortez: palmas (1); Rhani Krija: percussion ( 7); Miguel Sanchez: palmas and cajon (1); Hector del Curto: bandoneon (6, 9, 12); Marcia Dickstein: harp (2, 11); Andy Narrell: steel drums (4); Jesse Mills: violin (6, 9); Arnaud Sussman: violin (6, 9); Dov Sheindlin: viola (6, 9); Fred Sherry: cello (6, 9, 12); Gregg August: contrabass (6, 9); Judd Miller: synthesizer programming (7, 9); Sarah Koch: concert master (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Erica Korthals Altes: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); David Peijnenborgh: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Pauline Terlouw: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Giles Francis: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Petra Griffioen: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Doesjka de Leu: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Seija Teeuwen: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Merijn Rombout: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Herman van Haaren: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Lucja Domski: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Wim Kok: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Elizabeth Liefkes-Cats: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Marianne van den Heuvel: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Laurie Vreeken-Bos: violin (2, 3, 5, 7, 8);: Mieke Honingh: viola (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Norman Jansen: viola (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Julia Jowet: viola (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Isabella Petersen: viola (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Alex Welch: viola (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Bastiaan van der Werf: cello (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Maarten Jansen: cello (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Wim Grin: cello (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Annie Tangberg: cello (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Erik Winkelmann: contrabass (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Arend Liefkes: contrabass (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Tjerk de Vos: contrabass (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Eddy Koopman: percussion (2, 3, 5, 7, 8);: Joke Schonewille: harp (2, 3, 5, 7, 8); Hans Vroomans: piano (2, 3, 5, 7, 8).

Album information

Title: Nights On Earth | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Horizontal

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