Dec 6, 2012 (WBGO-FM) — You're judged by the company you keep, and at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival, we're with geniuses. Saxophonist Miguel Zen髇 (from Puerto Rico) and drummer Dafnis Prieto (from Cuba) have both resettled in the U.S., and are reworking the music of their islands in studios and on bandstands worldwide.
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Saxophonist Miguel Zenón performs with pianist Laurent Coq at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival. (Erik Jacobs for NPR)
Miguel Zen贸n And Dafnis Prieto On JazzSet
by Becca Pulliam
Dec 6, 2012 (WBGO-FM) — You're judged by the company you keep, and at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival, we're with geniuses. Saxophonist Miguel Zen髇 (from Puerto Rico) and drummer Dafnis Prieto (from Cuba) have both resettled in the U.S., and are reworking the music of their islands in studios and on bandstands worldwide.See this
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In 2008 and 2011, respectively, Miguel Zen髇 and Dafnis Prieto received MacArthur Fellowships — known as "Genius Grants" — from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. They were cited for their achievements in expanding boundaries and combining vocabularies. And you can hear them in action from Newport on JazzSet.
First, Zen髇 and co-composer Laurent Coq lead a quartet in music from their new suite Rayuela (in English: hopscotch). It's named for the 1966 novel by Julio Cort醶ar. The author is fascinating himself: He was born in Brussels in 1914 and raised in Argentina; he then worked in Paris as a translator for UNESCO, wrote literature and played trumpet. He died in 1984.
Miguel Zen髇 loves every page in Cort醶ar's imaginative, stream-of-consciousness book (which the novelist suggested could be read from front to back or by hopscotching through the chapters). The movements in the musical suite are for various characters and locations, and we hopscotch through three. The complete Rayuela suite is on the new album from the Sunnyside label.
Around the turn of the century, Dafnis Prieto "came over from Cuba and promptly placed every rhythm section in New York City on notice," writes Patrick Jarenwattananon of NPR Music. The drummer's rhythmic embrace is global: In 2011, he taught and studied for six weeks at the Swarnabhoomy Academy of Music near Chennai in India. His drumming is high-energy, sunny and polyrhythmic, yet there's more than rhythm in his writing for this ensemble. The three-horn harmony and lines provide some of the greatest listening pleasures.
With funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (Doris Duke herself liked to go to Newport), the 2012 edition of the Newport Jazz Festival commissioned Prieto to compose "Two for One." Before and after the commission, the band plays from his album Taking the Soul for a Walk on Dafnison Music.
Zen髇 Set List
- "Talita"
- "Traveler"
- "El Club de la Serpiente"
All music by Coq and Zen髇.
Zen髇 Personnel
- Miguel Zen髇, alto saxophone
- Laurent Coq, piano
- Dana Leong, cello and trombone
- Dan Weiss, percussion and tablas
Prieto Set List
- "The Sooner the Better"
- "Two for One"
- "Until the Last Minute"
All music by Prieto.
Prieto Personnel
- Dafnis Prieto, drums
- Ralph Alessi, trumpet
- Felipe Lamoglia, alto saxophone
- Peter Apfelbaum, tenor sax and melodica
- Manuel Valera, piano
- Yunior Terry, bass
Credits
Recording Engineers: Antonio Oliart and David Tallacksen with Michael Downes; Assistant Surround Sound mixes by Antonio Oliart and Duke Markos.
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