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Results for "Javier AQ Ortiz"
Estrellas Caim:
by Javier AQ Ortiz
When recordings label themselves as star-studded events, they better be! Such nomenclature should be meaningful. The Estrellas Caimán, or Caiman All Star series, nevertheless, does not belittle such a naming. All of their recordings are rare enjoyable meetings of legends, bandleaders, producers, arrangers, composers, and stars. Always digging into whatever amount of fun they can manage ...
Ray Vega Latin Jazz Sextet: Pa
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Ray Vega’s Pa’lante is neither extraordinary, nor ordinary. His sextet has nothing to prove except for the fact that they belong squarely in the midst of mainstream New Yorker jazz with an above average Hispanic zing. Vega’s trumpet playing is tight and clear-cut, as is all music under his care. As a leader, he elicits the ...
Zim Ngqawana: Zimphonic Suites
by Javier AQ Ortiz
At 20 years of age, Zimasile Ngqawana, did not know how to play a flute, a saxophone or a piano. At 42, he is a well-rounded multi-instrumentalist with plenty of upper crust jazz education and exposure to renowned characters such as Max Roach, Wynton Marsalis, and Abdullah Ibrahim, as well as transcontinental tours. After a few ...
Bobby McFerrin: Beyond Words
by Javier AQ Ortiz
How does one write about the ineffable? It is, after all, Beyond Words ... We must, however, reflect on Bobby McFerrin’s Beyond Words There is a certain degree of serendipity in the fact that this recording is being capitalized upon, in the best economic system the world has ever known, through the marketing efforts of both ...
Society Vibes: A New Hope
by Javier AQ Ortiz
A New Hope is a South African recording, from the late ‘80s, with a cascading good vibe stemming from a production that, at times, could very well be described as a musical whimsical prayer. Perhaps “Long Live Sophia Town” and “A New Hope” itself would present the most obvious prayerful examples. Those tunes most noticeably express ...
Abdullah Ibrahim: Best of Abdullah Ibrahim
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Let us forget about the obvious for just a second and not dwell on who is Abdullah Ibrahim, his storied background and development, or even the importance of this compilation of material mostly culled from recorded work in South Africa. Anthology nonetheless, this is a super jazz album that stands on its own as a fascinating ...
Various: Afrika Underground
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Afrika Underground is a heavily funkified, “souled,” thickly grooved compilation of South African classic acts that uttered their “underground” musical cries under the defunct apartheid system. Hence, therein one gains access to musical material from the 70s and 80s, whereupon funk, fusion rock and particular brands of fusion jazz had their heyday. South African musicians have ...
Jes?s "Chuchito" Vald?s, Jr. with Laksar Reese: Encantado
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Encantado, or 'enchanted,' is the first release under the name of the youngest part of a celebrated Cuban pianistic triad. Jes's 'Chuchito' Vald's, Jr. is the grandson of 'Bebo' and son of 'Chucho' . Vald's, Jr., however, is his own man, although quite 'chuchified' nonetheless. More on this later' The recording merges original compositions with standards ...
Erik Truffaz: Mantis
by Javier AQ Ortiz
The innate concord between representation and abstraction, the crucial breakthrough of 20th Century art, palpable in the work of Picasso, Matisse and Klee, has a musical counterpoint in jazz recordings such as Mantis. The quartet is Truffaz’s medium and with the support of three noteworthy musicians, of which guitarist Manu Codjia receives the most attention soloing, ...
Lonnie Plaxico: M
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Lonnie Plaxico’s maturity as a musician comes to the fore in his first release under the jazz banner label Blue Note as Mélange finds him putting together almost 30 years of professional musical experience in a recording that works well. Plaxico wisely allows the supporting cast of this flecked tale to make the most of their ...
