After a summer overstuffed with seven-day work weeks, I am now trying to catch up on my listening. To speed things along, I’m limiting myself to short reviews. So here are reviews of new albums from the Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Dafnis Prieto (featuring Luciana Souza), and Steven Bernstein and the Millennial Territory Orchestra—plus a new single from Isaac Aragon.
Grammy-winning Dafnis Prieto is universally acknowledged to be a drummer of prodigious skill. His sextet’s superb new recording, Transparency, makes it abundantly clear that his skills as a composer and arranger are on the same plane as his drumming.
Dafnis Prieto Big Band (L to R). Front row: Roberto Quintero, Josh Deutsch, Román Filiú, Dafnis Prieto, Peter Apfelbaum, Ricky Rodríguez. Middle row: Michael Thomas, Tim Albright, Jeff Nelson, Manuel Valera, Mike Rodríguez, Alex Sipiagin. Back row: Nathan Eklund, Alan Ferber, Chris Cheek, Joel Frahm, Jacob Garchik.
Since his arrival in New York from Cuba in 1999, drummer/composer/bandleader Dafnis Prieto has proven himself an adventurous musician in a variety of settings—trio, quartet, sextet—with a healthy disregard for genre. His latest release, Back to the Sunset,* is his most ambitious to date.
Prieto will bring his Sí o Sí Quartet, with Peter Apfelbaum on saxophones, Alex Brown on piano, and Ricky Rodriguez on bass, to the Outpost this Sunday, April 29. Go here for details. Continue reading
