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Jazz Articles about Ignacio Berroa
Jorge Garcia: Crossover
by Mark Sullivan
In 2020, Cuban-born guitarist Jorge Garcia splits his time between South Carolina (where he resides) and Florida (where he has an established performing career). He says that the inspiration for this album occurred while he was growing up in Cuba and listening to Classic Rock on Miami radio stations, drawn to the sound of the guitar. The idea of making jazz arrangements of Classic Rock songs came from his later teaching experience, a way of bridging rock tunes with the ...
read moreIgnacio Berroa Trio: Straight Ahead From Havana
by James Nadal
While it appears normal to perform Cuban music in its natural rhythmic state, in a reversal of the rules of engagement, drummer Ignacio Berroa has re-imagined the popular songbook of his homeland, into Straight Ahead From Havana, shaking up established traditional elements to form a new jazz perspective. Joining Berroa in the trio are Martin Bejerano on piano, and Josh Allen on bass. Bejerano hails from Miami, where he is piano jazz director at the University of Miami, Allen attended ...
read moreIgnacio Berroa Graces the Douglas Beach House
by Bill Leikam
Ignacio BerroaBach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Douglas Beach HouseHalf Moon Bay, CaliforniaJanuary 31, 2010 Sometimes you think you've heard it all, but then something comes along to let you know that there is even more. This was clearly the case on January 31, when Cuban drummer Ignacio Berroa and his quartet, consisting of Los Angeles-based Ben Wendel on sax, Otmaro Ruiz from Venezuela on piano and Mexico-based Rene Camacho on acoustic bass. Dizzy Gillespie ...
read moreIgnacio Berroa: Codes
by AAJ Italy Staff
Occorre presentare il batterista Ignacio Berroa? Tralasciamo di elencare gli illustri musicisti che ha affiancato per limitarci a citare la preziosa presentazione che ne fece Dizzy Gillespie: “L’unico batterista al mondo, nella storia della musica americana, che conosca intimamente sia la musica cubana che il jazz”. Dopo essersi quadagnato gran rispetto tra i percussionisti cubani, a lanciarlo nell’empireo dei sideman più richiesti in ambito jazzistico fu il suo trasferimento a New York nel 1980 ed un quarto di secolo trascorso ...
read moreIgnacio Berroa: Codes
by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
For some insight into the codes to which the title of drummer Ignacio Berroa's debut album refers, compare his version of the António Carlos Jobim classic Inútil Paisagem with the excellent piano trio version by Aaron Goldberg on Worlds (Sunnyside, 2006). Goldberg takes it very slow and successfully taps into the number's rarefied, slightly decadent Brazilian chic. Berroa, in contrast, recasts the tune as a lovely, more buoyant and maudlin bolero.
There is a slight, not heavy-handed concept to Codes, ...
read moreIgnacio Berroa: Codes
by Jim Santella
Ignacio Berroa spreads contemporary Latin jazz before him everywhere he goes. It's the music of Dizzy Gillespie, the music of Mario Bauza, and the music of Gonzalo Rubalcaba, David Sánchez, Ed Simon, John Patitucci, and the other members of Berroa's band.
Along with a vibrant Latin jazz rhythm and accented melodies, the ensemble adds invigorating solos to its successful recipe. Berroa and his rhythm mates hold down the group's foundation while two superb saxophonists and two creative pianists ...
read moreCharlie Haden: Nocturne
by Jim Santella
What do you hear in darkness? The little things? Sounds that go unnoticed during the day. Crickets, creaking hinges, softly purring machinery, the hum of automobile traffic, and perhaps a distant television or radio. Night creatures are everywhere; but you don't see them. You hear the same things they hear, though; and it helps you to concentrate on your work.
Charlie Haden's ballad album, Nocturne , follows from his love of film noir. Like his Quartet West, this ...
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