All press News

The metamorphosis of Branford Marsalis

When you hear a musician use his voice or instrument to convey an emotion, is the way it is expressed really authentic to the artist’s personality? Read more »

Submitted by crwadmin on February 19th, 2010 — 01:00am

Miguel Zenón @ Sixth and I

Like this nation of immigrants whose disparate cultures converge to create something new, jazz also constantly evolves, in part by the infusion of hitherto unrelated styles of music. Latin jazz is a prime example of this musical melting pot, beginning with Dizzy Gillespie’s seminal collaborations with percussionist Chano Pozo and trumpeter Mario Bauza in the 1940s. Read more »

Submitted by crwadmin on February 17th, 2010 — 01:00am

Jazzwise Gives Esta Plena Four Stars

One of my lasting memories of the recent London Jazz Festival was the outstanding gig by Miguel Zenón’s Quartet at Ronnie Scott’s playing music from this brand new album. Regrettably Luis Perdomo couldn’t appear because of visa problems, but the French pianist Laurent Coq who deputised at 24 hours notice, sight-reading the most intriquate arrangements imaginable, was excellent. Read more »

Submitted by crwadmin on February 10th, 2010 — 01:00am

Miguel Zenón Featured on Critics Picks: Top 50 New Albums and Top 10 Historical Releases

We compiled our top 50 new releases and top 10 historical/reissue recordings of 2009 from year-end lists by our critics. To see each voter’s ballot, go to this page. Only CDs and box sets released between Nov. 1, 2008, and Oct. 31, 2009 were eligible. Some releases may have slipped through the cracks, however, as release dates shifted or weren’t available.

Original blurbs by Evan Haga and Jeff Tamarkin. Review excerpts by Thomas Conrad, Steve Greenlee, Christopher Loudon, Bill Milkowski, Mike Shanley, George Varga, Michael J. West and Josef Woodard.

Top 50 New Releases Read more »

Submitted by crwadmin on January 1st, 2010 — 01:00am

Two of the Top 10 Innovative Jazz Releases of 2009

Miguel Zenón’s ‘Esta Plena’ and Claudia Acuña’s ‘En Este Momento’ are two of Howard Reich’s “Top 10 innovative jazz releases of 2009” featured in the Chicago Tribune! Reich writes that these releases represent “Innovative work abounded in 2009, with particularly strong contributions from Chicago artists.” Congratulations, Miguel and Claudia!

Here are the descriptions of the two Marsalis Music releases from Reich’s list: Read more »

Submitted by crwadmin on December 13th, 2009 — 01:00am