Hilario Rodeiro Quinteto: Pausa

Drummer and composer Hilario Rodeiro Quinteto's PAUSA(which, no surprise, means "pause" in Spanish) invites listeners on a refreshing journey through jazz, with the band's rich heritage and innovative flair woven into every note. Led by Rodeiro, a Spanish musician from the Basque country, this quintet serves up a skillful mix of traditional Galician flavors and contemporary jazz, while occasionally skirting the edge of avant-garde.

With years of studying and performing both traditional Galician music and modern jazz, Rodeiro perceptively blends these styles in a way that feels like a conversation between the past and the present.

The album kicks off with "Pausa Para Mirar Dentro Dun," where time seems to bend as sax lines sing out, stretching each moment. Rodeiro's compositions display a clever complexity, with the band effortlessly navigating intricate harmonies and the three-man sax attack keeping things interesting. It is jazz, but with a touch of mischief. Each track spotlights the quintet's chops, with moments that feel like a musical wink to Ornette Coleman.

As the album unfolds, the band shifts through a variety of moods and styles. The reflective and ethereal "As Miñas Alboradas" gives way to the brooding start of "Atopeite," which quickly bursts into prophetic horn choruses. Each musician brings a unique voice to the ensemble, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. It is an album that keeps you hooked from start to finish, like a good novel you just cannot put down.

"Para Ti" is a soul-soaked ballad, brimming with intricacies and a sense of space between the choruses that gives the music room to breathe. It is the kind of track that might lull you into a dream state, only to surprise you with contrapuntal developments that highlight the central theme. Meanwhile, "Escoitar" switches gears with a pungent melody, built on a linear structure with brassy flourishes. Rodeiro stirs up a jarring rhythmic pulse with asymmetrical, free-form beats, all supported by bassist Kike Arza's elastic lines that keep things grounded. In short, PAUSA by Hilario Rodeiro Quinteto is like the perfect jazz cocktail—shaken with tradition, stirred with modernism and served with a side of emotional depth