The Afro Cuban Latin Jazz Project – El Vuelo
Uptempo Latin jazz performed by Grammy-winning musicians including best-selling Kamasi Washington.
Grammy-winning Cuban drummer Raul Pineda [with Chucho Valdes in 2001] and Jesus Diaz are familiar names in the world of Afro Cuban Latin Jazz. In December of 2006, pianist and music director Gustavo Ramierz led them, along with saxophonist Kamasi Washington and Jorge “Sawa” Perez, in a terrific session of his original charts. There are only five tunes on this project but each lasts 10 minutes or more. The ensemble thoroughly explores the complex rhythmic structure of the tunes and continually increases the energy. Just when you think they’ve reached the high point, they crank it up another notch. It really is one of the most energy-filled presentations I’ve ever heard!
Kamasi Washington released his own ground-breaking album, The Epic, in 2015, identifying him as the generation’s torchbearer for progressive, improvisational music that would open the door for young audiences to experience music unlike anything they had heard before. Featuring his 10-piece band, The Next Step, the albumd was a combination of hip-hop, classical and R&B music, all major influences on the young saxophonist and bandleader, who exceeds any notions of what “jazz” music is. Released to critical acclaim, The Epic won numerous “best of” awards, including the inaugural American Music Prize and the Gilles Peterson Worldwide album of the year. Washington followed that work with collaborations with other influential artists such as Kendrick Lamar, John Legend, Run the Jewels, Ibeyi and the creation of “Harmony of Difference,” a standalone multimedia installation during the prestigious 2017 Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
When Gustavo and Raul came to the studio to experience some of the HD surround audio mixes, they were blown away. They had been working on the “studio version” CD of these tunes with a prominent jazz producer for over 6 months. But upon hearing the AIX tracks, both turned around and asked why the sound was so much better than the sound of the CD that they were used to hearing. It’s not a secret. AIX captures real music-making in real time without the constant overdubbing and processing that limits so many commercial jazz recordings AND we run our machines in HD-Audio!
There are two sides to this disc. The first side in an interactive DVD-Video disc and the other side is a DVD-Audio disc [which requires a DVD-Audio capable machine to play it back]. If you love authentic Afro Cuban jazz, you’ll love the music and sound on this DVD-Audio/Video disc.
Audio Samples:
- El Vuelo –
- Enfumbe –
- Encuentro –
- Solamente –
- Aguellas Gaviotas –
