My plan was to post three or four more short album reviews to lower the must-listen pile a little, as I did in the previous post. One of those albums was to be The Cosmic Piano, a solo release from pianist Matthew Shipp, S.G. Then, I had the opportunity to speak with His Sui Generisness, so the other albums will have to wait a bit longer.
On Thursday, October 31, Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet will make its debut performance at the Outpost. Comprising five stellar improvisers—Melford (piano and melodica), Ingrid Laubrock (saxophones), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Leslie Mok (drums)—the group plays vivid, life-affirming compositions by Melford, a sensitive synesthete, inspired by the paintings of Cy Twombly, specifically his Gaeta Set (For the Love of Fire and Water). Musically Speaking had the opportunity to speak with Melford, one of the brightest luminaries on the jazz scene.
In the fall of 2018, Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez—actor, musician and member of the internationally recognized trio Engine, and currently a visiting professor at UNM—introduced a series of singing encounters called Coming Alive through Song, which he described this way in an invitation: “Coming Alive through Song is a cycle of singing sessions open to all. . . . In these encounters, we will dive into a fluid interaction of song, movement, and rhythms rooted in Afro–Latin American traditions, as well as spirituals and shouts from the Deep South of the United States. Part of the day will be dedicated to physical work: exercises of synchronization and reaction contained within a structure that unfolds through different rhythms and games.”
These encounters have continued, and with his return to Albuquerque for the spring semester, they are about to begin again. Rodriguez, who will colead the sessions with collaborator Lloyd Bricken, shared his thoughts about the nature of these encounters, their objective, and their provenance in an interview reproduced here in an edited version, along with a promotional video, details about the upcoming sessions, and a brief profile of Rodriguez’s professional background.
Luciana Souza. Photo by Kim Fox.
Spare, transparent, and penetratingly beautiful, The Book of Longing, the latest release from Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza, transports the listener into the heart of 10 poems, four from Leonard Cohen’s book of the same name; one each from Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, and Christina Rossetti; and three from Souza herself. Souza, who composed the music, does not attempt to interpret the poems. Rather, with the help of the exceptionally sympathetic Chico Pinheiro on guitar, Scott Colley on bass, and producer Larry Klein, Souza’s husband and multiple GRAMMY winner, she creates a setting in which the words of the poets resonate freely.
On Wednesday, November 28, Souza, Pinheiro, and Colley will bring those songs and others to the Outpost. I had the opportunity to speak with her by phone a few weeks ago. The interview, lightly edited for brevity, is transcribed below. Continue reading
César Bauvallet, with Kanoa Kaluhiwa in background
Trombonist, sonero, percussionist, composer, and arranger César Bauvallet spent his childhood immersed in the sones, danzones, boleros, and cha-cha-chas of Cuba’s Golden Era of Music—a veritable explosion of traditional music whose romance and rhythms found their way into jazz and popular music around the world. Bauvallet’s father, Daniel, was at the heart of that era. His performances as a singer and drummer in Havana nightclubs helped to define the essence of the music for his own and later generations, and he schooled his gifted children in Cuban musical traditions. Bauvallet refined his musical gifts at Havana’s famed Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, from which he graduated summa cum laude, and went on to have a very successful career in Cuba, traveling around the world and playing his roots.
Twenty-five years ago, on tour with his band in Mexico, Bauvallet and his brother defected, walking across the bridge to El Paso. Bauvallet settled in Albuquerque, where he introduced a new group, Son Como Son, playing a Cuban style of salsa entirely new to the city. The members of this nine-piece band, drawn from the local population, were remorselessly schooled by Bauvallet in the traditions that were second nature to him, whom they call “The Source,” a man as strict as he is generous. Twenty-three years later, Son Como Son still packs every venue with its high-energy shows, and Bauvallet has branched out into other projects, such as Tradiciones, a smaller band that he created to celebrate and preserve the sumptuously rhythmic and romantic dance music of Cuba.
For the New Mexico Jazz Festival, Bauvallet has put together a band that draws on the diverse musical experiences of its members—pianist Jim Ahrend, tenor saxophonist Kanoa Kaluhiwa, bassist Janet Harman (Bauvallet’s wife), bongosero Victor Rodríguez, drummer Danilo Bauvallet (the son of Bauvallet and Harman), and special guest and Bauvallet’s longtime friend conguero Raciel Tortoló from Team Havana. They’ll be appearing at the Outpost on Sunday evening, July 23.
I recently spoke with Bauvallet about the project, and the following excerpts from our conversation touch on the genesis of the project, the band members, his apprenticeship in Cuba as an arranger, and his objective for the evening. Continue reading