Category Archives: Reviews

Lara Manzanares Says a Sad Good-Bye in Her New Single

Lara Manzanares. Photo by Reece Martinez.

At the 2018 New Mexico Music Awards, singer/songwriter Lara Manzanares won Best Album for Land Baby and Best Packaging for its CD package design. The Tierra Amarilla native/Corrales resident, who returned to New Mexico a couple of years ago from California, is not resting on her laurels, though. She has a new single, “Dear John,” available on the usual digital outlets on April 10, and she’s working on a clutch of new material. Manzanares is also making connections across the state that will expand her musical experience. Earlier this year, she signed on with Carlos Medina to play guitar and sing backup with his “psychedelic mariachi” band on a March tour through the Southwest. She’ll be featured at Kristina Jacobsen’s Songwriter Showcase at 7:00 p.m. at Winning Coffee on April 9. Looking ahead, she’ll be appearing at the Nuevo Americana Fest, produced by singer/songwriter Chris Arellano, in Costilla on July 6 and at Festival Eclectica in Angel Fire on August 10.

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Catherine Russell Swings into Joy

For me, Catherine Russell is the Hank Jones of vocalists. Like the late pianist, she carries the entire history of jazz and blues in every phrase she delivers—from New Orleans to Muscle Shoals, from the Brill Building to Harlem. It’s the canvas for her vocal paints and brushes. Like Jones, her every line moves with an understated elegance and a heart-lifting swing to tell a story—the whole story. Her latest album, Alone Together, gives us a singer at the top of her game, backed by a terrific band perfectly matched to her intentions.

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Engine: Looking for the Light

Engine: Robin Gentien, Pierre Lauth-Karson, Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez. Photo by Trevor Meier.

Back in 2017, when the trio Engine was invited to perform at Tricklock Company’s 17th Annual Revolutions International Theatre Festival and at ¡Globalquerque!, likely no one suspected that it was the beginning of a love affair between the band and New Mexico. Two years later, however, thanks to the Theater Department at UNM and Neal Copperman at AMP Concerts, the Franco-Argentine trio—Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez (vocals, acoustic guitar), Robin Gentien (vocals, electric guitar, cascas), and Pierre Lauth-Karson (vocals, harmonica, shaker)—has established a North American home base in Albuquerque. Last spring, their Encuentros Íntimos (Intimate Encounters) concert series here quickly developed a devoted (and SRO) audience and produced a live recording, Encuentros Íntimos: Unplugged in Albuquerque, and the band also recorded a studio album, Si viene la muerte, before taking off on a four-month European tour. This week, the band—now a sextet for its New Mexico appearances, with the addition of Terry Bluhm (bass), Jefferson Voorhees (drums), and Caro Acuña (percussion)—is launching another set of Encuentros Íntimos. This year’s edition includes four appearances in Santa Fe and four in Albuquerque. Anyone interested in an ecstatic musical experience should mark their calendars accordingly.

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Joe Lovano Brings Trio Tapestry and ‘Peaceful, Beautiful Attitude’ to the Outpost

Joe Lovano. Photo by Craig Lovell.

On Trio Tapestry, his first recording on ECM as a leader, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano called on pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Carmen Castaldi—and his own long history with the likes of Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Gunther Schuller, and Hank Jones, among others—to create an album of expressive and intimate beauty. The trio will bring their atmospheric grace to the stage at the Outpost on March 12.

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New Releases from Gato Malo and Wild Humans

  • Gato Malo (Felix Peralta)
  • Wild Humans: Maren Hatch, Ryan Jarvis, Julian Wild, April Lisette

I’ve been writing about New Mexican singer/songwriters going on 15 years now, and I can tell you there’s no end of them in this place, and good ones, too, from all over the musical spectrum. In recent weeks, I’ve made the acquaintance of Lara Manzanares, whose terrific album Land Baby won Best Of at the 2018 NM Music Awards, and the soulful Isaac Aragon, who’s forthcoming single, scheduled for early 2019, is going to open up some ears. Meanwhile, two guys whose work I’ve enjoyed for a while, Gato Malo (aka Felix Peralta) and Julian Wild (aka Julian Singer-Corbin), frontman for Wild Humans, have recently released new work worthy of your ears. The two albums come at you from completely different musical points of the compass, but what they share is deep insight delivered with honest feeling.

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