Miguel Zenon (alto); Luis Perdomo (piano); Hand Glawischnig (bass); Henry Cole (drums).
(Review by Lance).
One hell of an alto player! This was my first thought as Zenon soared through the changes of the opener - Academia. A tune, seemingly, inspired by his tutorial role at the New England Conservatory. After hearing this, his students will either change direction and become librarians on Rhode Island or, with much diligence, eventually, become headliners at Birdland.
Zenon is a player making waves in New England but has, to the best of my knowledge, not yet connect(icut)ed in Old England. At least, not this far north.
His playing is a delight, I'm reminded of my early recollections of Art Pepper before he got into the Coltrane thing. This is a sort of halfway house between those two periods of Pepperami which, to my mind is just about the ideal place. You've got the drive, the reaching out to the unknown, but there's also the fluidity and that hint of romance in Zenon's playing. This latter quality is best displayed in Sangre Di Me Sangre - a balladic tribute to his daughter. Few daughters have been shown so much instrumental love on record.
Piano, bass and drums are well featured both in support and solo. Indeed, even without the leader, these guys could cut it and cut it good!
There's much more profundity here than I can offer, not least the question as to why there are guitar players on the cover, seeing as there ain't no guitars on the album which, in itself, gives the disc a two-star start.
Lance.
No comments :
Post a Comment