• Music

    Kalí Rodriguez-Peña – Mélange

    March 12, 2022 - By 

    Kalí Rodriguez-Peña is a Cuban-American trumpeter who is one of the leading lights of New York’s modern salsa scene.  Salsa isn’t a genre that normally gets caught by my radar, but recently I’ve had the chance to explore the works of artists like Johnny Colón, Hector Lavoe and Willie Colón, so finding non-commercial salsa has been a real treat. The album is dark for Cuban music, and I love the energy it emits.  It’s far more smoky and the music references Rodriguez-Peña’s heroes like Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard.  Brilliant.  

  • Music

    Florian Arbenz, Hermon Mehari, Nelson Veras – Conversation #1: Condensed

    August 27, 2021 - By 

    Swiss drummer and percussionist Florian Arbenz was featured on our previous website, A Miscellany of Tasteful Music, some time in 2020 on a record he did with American saxophonist Greg Osby.  This album is equally as engaging. This slightly unusual line up of guitar, trumpet & drums might, at first glance, miss a bass instrument. But despite the challenges, the creativity of the musicians involved, as well as Florian’s addition of custom percussion instruments covering this range, make for a fascinating listen which moves from hard-swinging soloing to dreaming soundscapes. Imagine making an album which swings, yet has no bass…

  • Music

    Amir ElSaffar – Inana

    July 31, 2021 - By 

    Inana is the fourth album by Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar which came out in 2011.  The trumpeter starts the album with eight tracks dedicated to Inanna, the Mesopotamian goddess of sex, beauty, war and political power.  ElSaffar mixes microtonal jazz with Arabic scales such as maqam, which seems to be naturally suited to improvisation.  It’s an evocative album – warm, passionate, and exquisitely recorded. Sadly, there is only one track available to hear on the Bandcamp site, but I attach another track available on Youtube here. Personnel: Amir ElSaffar – trumpet, vocal, santour Ole Mathisen – tenor and soprano saxophone…