• Home
  • About
  • Contact

Jazz With an Accent

~ Global music in the 21st century

Jazz With an Accent

Monthly Archives: June 2019

Chucho Valdés on a Summer Night

25 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by Fernando González in Home, Jazz, Latin Jazz, On Music

≈ Leave a comment

From l. to r. Chucho Valdés, piano; Ramón Vázquez, bass; Dreiser Durruthy Bombalé, batá drums and vocals; and Yaroldy Abreu, percussion and vocals.

Maestro Chucho Valdés is 77 and clearly not inclined to waste time.
Leading his Jazz Batá Quartet at an outdoors free concert in Hollywood, FL, Saturday night, the pianist and composer offered an uncompromising set, dazzling technically, demanding on the audience, and intense throughout.
You don’t become Chucho Valdés by taking it easy now and then.

Most of the program was drawn from his latest recording, Jazz Batá 2, and the material served as a starting point from which to probe and explore. Sometimes in the span of a piece, for example, Valdés would set out to examine connections. He announced his intentions before “Lorena’s Tango” — and then he took the audience on a trip from old-style tango to the African roots of the genre and back. But later, he did it almost casually in a performance of  “Ochún,” a song to a deity of Santeria that subtly turned into a Sunday morning gospel song. Just as you realized what was happening, the hymn vanished in the humid air and we were back before Ochún. And Valdés also teased jazz fans with fluid, post-bop moments and an angular, forceful nod (or two) to Cecil Taylor, one of his idols.

All that said, the performance also had its lighter moments — a dancer joining in, with a piece in progress, unplanned. (Call it an unexpected salute to Tropicana); a call-and-response between audience and stage; and an encore that included the irresistible “Bacalao Con Pan” — with Valdés doing some of the singing, no less.

If someone was expecting just a light fare and old hits to pass a couple of hours outdoors on a hot and humid summer night, well, sometimes you get more than what you expected — even if you didn´t know you wanted it or you needed it.
We should always be so lucky.

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

In Miami, Jazz With a Beachtone

12 Wednesday Jun 2019

Posted by Fernando González in Home, Jazz, Latin Jazz, On Music

≈ Leave a comment

Pianist and singer Eliane Elias, headlining the Beachtone Jazz Festival in Miami, Saturday. Photo by Daniel Azoulay

Since jazz lost its place to rock ’n’ roll as the dance music of the day, oh, about 60 years ago, presenting it has become as much an art as a business. And with Miami’s privileged location, regular influx of tourists, diverse local population, and many attractions, few places offer the tantalizing opportunities and steep challenges for jazz artists and promoters as this city. 

On Saturday, June 15, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, pianist and singer Eliane Elias, guitarists Yamandu Costa and Chico Pinheiro, and vocalist Mirella Costa will headline a program of jazz with a distinctly Brazilian flavor in the first edition of the Miami Beachtone Jazz Festival.

Continue reading →

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Search

Categories

  • Home
  • In Other Words
  • On Music
    • Jazz
    • Latin Jazz

Recent Posts

  • The Palladium Ballroom Alive Again in Miami Beach
  • Astor Piazzolla and a GRAMMY Nomination
  • Gustavo Matamoros and the mysteries (and possibilities) of sound
My Tweets

Archives

  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • October 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • January 2015
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • December 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • May 2011
  • December 2009
  • September 2009
  • December 2007
  • January 2001
  • September 1995
  • December 1994
  • November 1987

Archives

  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • October 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • January 2015
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • December 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • May 2011
  • December 2009
  • September 2009
  • December 2007
  • January 2001
  • September 1995
  • December 1994
  • November 1987
My Tweets

RECENT TWEETS

Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this page.

Categories

  • Home
  • In Other Words
  • On Music
    • Jazz
    • Latin Jazz

Archives

CONTACT INFO

P.O. Box 402702 Miami Beach FL 33140 - 0702 USA fernando@fgonow.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Jazz With an Accent
    • Join 29 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Jazz With an Accent
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: