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So a little known bit about myself, I'm a huge fan of Jazz. I grew up listening to everything from the classics to contemporary and new age. I am blessed to have grown up in a city that is rich in Jazz history and have been privileged to have seen some of the greatest grace small and large venues.
The album I'm sharing I stumbled upon by purchasing tickets to a Jazz series held at The Fraze pavilion in Dayton, OH. The show was amazing and hearing the stories behind the music was fascinating. I hope you enjoy...
"Ninety Miles Project is a jazz album and documentary film recorded in Havana, Cuba, in May 2010, and features American jazz artists Christian Scott, Stefon Harris andDavid Sánchez.[2] The project also features Cuban composers and artists Rember Duharte and Harold Lopez Nussa.[3] The album was released in 2010 on Concord Picante Records.[4] In late 2011, both Downbeat Magazine and Jazziz Magazine featured cover stories on the project with Jazziz Magazine stating that the hyperkinetic polyrhythms laid down by pianist Rember Duharte’s group on the opening track, “Ñengueleru,” clearly distinguish this set from a conventional Latin-jazz date.[5]
In his review of the album, Dave Gelly of the Observer wrote "Ninety miles is the distance separating Cuba from the US. After much hassle, these three US-based jazz musicians got to play with their Cuban counterparts in Havana and this is the result. It's well known that standards are ferociously high in Cuba, and the sheer sophistication of the musical dialogue is hugely impressive".[6]
The American members of Ninety Miles continue to tour, including shows at The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival,[7] The Atlanta Jazz Festival,[8] and at the Hollywood Bowl opening for Arturo Sandoval and The Buena Vista Social Club.[9]
The project extends a larger, more organic story — of jazz as a conduit for connection between the U.S. and Cuba and an expression of common roots — which is as old as the music itself, and which has been altered and often severely curtailed during the last half-century, due to travel restrictions related to the continuing U.S. embargo of Cuba.[10]" [Wikepedia]
I like Jazz as much as the next guy, but this sounds like elevator music to me. Sorry. 2 for me.
ReplyDeleteI kind of agree with Joshua. Sometimes it does sound like elevator music. Maybe it is the xylophone that is creating this impression. And it does annoy me too.
ReplyDeleteBut, too me, it does not only sound like elevator music. The first song, Nengueleru is much more than that: there is some great trumpet in it, and 3rd track City Sunrise, too.
Now, Black action figure or La Fiesta va are full of xylophone and saxophone with plenty of notes, with a too fast tempo, and I don’t like it much. It does remind me some elevator music. Congo is pretty OK, because it looks African.
It’s kind of an uneven album. I am happy to listen to some jazz, but that’s not really jazz that fits my taste.
2.5
City Sunrise was my favourite from this album too.
ReplyDeleteI first tried to listen to this on a pre-dawn winter's drive... it's SO not the soundtrack to that! I gave it a few more goes after that but it didn't really grow on me. It's a 3 for me.
I didn't mind this album but I have to admit I was anticipating something a bit more Cuban brass. Something like Arturo Sandoval's album Danzon:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoa5z9lRTCQ (it gets going at 2:00).
Brown Belle Blues was my favourite. I give this album 2.5.
i like to think i can appreciate jazz, but maybe i'm too emo and prefer the sad/lethargic stuff. i got excited by the title of the project perhaps being homage to my main man Miles ("if peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis" - Billy Madison)
ReplyDeleteunfortunately for me, the album was mostly up-tempo, but man, wayyyy too much xylophone (i imagine a "i need more cowbell!" moment in the producers studio). what wasn't leveraging the xylophone had too much a big band feel.
"The Forgotten Ones" was the only one that took me to a dark place, but then it got too seductive.
"Black Action Figure" caught my eye, since part of a recent literary journal piece i wrote was about black superheroes (or the lack thereof).
enjoyable after 2-3 plays, but not a keeper for me. regardless, it was a fun listen, so a solid 2.5, ready to be played when i want to impress people about my obscure jazz knowledge.
I enjoyed the playing/soloing immensely, and I'm glad you chose it for the 'klub because I likely would never have come across it, but the song melodies never grabbed me.
ReplyDelete