Gabriel Alegria & The Afro-Peruvian Sextet | Pucusana (Coming Aug. 6th, 2010)
Gabriel Alegría & The Afro-Peruvian Sextet
Fuse
Music From The Coast Of Peru With Modern Jazz
on Forthcoming August
6 Release, Pucusana
Album Features Keyboardists Russell Ferrante
and Arturo O’Farril
The growling clarion call evokes old
jazz, Louis Armstrong, and New Orleans, but the cries in Spanish, the
percussion, and the gentle, looping groove takes us to a different
place. Both familiar and fresh, those first bars on Peruvian trumpeter,
composer, and bandleader Gabriel
Alegría’s Pucusana, are
also a declaration of principle of Afro-Peruvian jazz music.
“Taita
Guaranguito,” is a traditional Afro-Peruvian folk song, smartly
reinterpreted as a jazz piece. In fusion, the sum is often less than the
parts. Here, it’s a celebration of a common spirit. “What we discovered
over the years working in this music, is that there is a certain
similar energy between pre-1940s jazz and Afro-Peruvian music,” says
Alegría. “There is a connection, something about their spirit, so when
you [bring them together], it feels really natural. We don’t play in a
traditional jazz style, but it’s not about harmonies or a certain
rhythm. It’s about the intention in the playing. There is a joy, a
positive energy, that is present in the jazz esthetic of musicians like
Louis Armstrong. This same esthetic is also present in Afro-Peruvian
music.”
“If you go to a traditional peña (a gathering where Afro-Peruvian music is played)
or a jarana (a musical party,
typically in someone’s home) in Lima, you’ll see there the energy you
see in the old films about jazz, that energy of the audience
participating, shouting, really connecting with the musician,” says
Alegría. “Even though our sound is modern, when you see the band
perform, what you get is very much the traditional Afro-Peruvian energy.
The audience is really part of what we do. There is a lot of shouting
encouragement. There are specific hand clap patterns to various grooves
that the audience does in traditional shows and we make sure the
audience knows these patterns and participates. The energy is always
there, and that energy is very much part of the Afro Peruvian tradition.
We are just using it in a modern context.”
Pucusana is Alegría´s second
recording with his Afro-Peruvian Sextet which features the leader on
trumpet and flugelhorn and originals by Alegría and saxophonist Laura Andrea Leguía, as well as two
traditional Afro-Peruvian songs and an innovative reading of Rogers and
Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things” arranged by Alegría. But while he has
done most of the writing and arranging, Alegría gives its members much
credit for the final result.
“Our percussionist, Freddy “Huevito” Lobatón is the super
star of our band,” says Alegría. “He provides us with the all-important
connection to the Afro-Peruvian tradition. Guitarist Yuri Juárez employs the vocabulary of
traditional criollo music in a
contemporary harmonic setting, and our drummer Hugo Alcázar is the pioneer of drumming in Afro-Peruvian
jazz music. All of the patterns he plays on the drum kit are derived
from individual percussion parts played by traditional instruments. The
sound we generate in the group is very much a collective effort and a
coming together of very distinct personalities.”
And for Pucusana, Alegria also got the
support of keyboardists and composers Russell
Ferrante (who appears on “Taita Guaranguito,” “Pucusana,” “Piso
19,” and “Mono De Nazca”) and Arturo
O’Farril, who contributes on “My Favorite Things.”
Gabriel
Alegria was born in 1970 into an important artistic family in Lima,
Perú. His grandfather Ciro Alegría was an influential novelist,
journalist and politician in the 1940s and 50s. His father, Alonso is
Perú’s most acclaimed playwright and theater director. He discovered
jazz by listening to records, and then got involved as a player at the
National Conservatory, where Martin Joseph, an English jazz pianist, was
leading a workshop. Since, he has received a master’s degree from the
City University of New York and a doctorate in jazz studies from the
University of Southern California.
“The first trumpeter I
discovered was Miles Davis and the electric things he was doing in the
1980s — and then I went backwards, finding what he and others had done
before. That’s how I entered jazz.”
Not surprisingly, echoes of
Miles Davis can be heard throughout Pucusana,
most notably in “Mono de Nazca,” an original piece that features
Alegría playing with a Harmon mute over a traditional festejo rhythm. The juxtaposition
creates a curious sort of Miles-in-Lima effect.
Alegría muses
“Miles is a big point of reference for me – his spirit, his willingness
to explore ideas, to go forward. Everything that we can do to
acknowledge Miles, we do.”
Throughout Pucusana, the music has a distinct, sensual bouncy
groove of Afro-Peruvian music. “In this album we use variations of two
rhythms: the festejo and the landó.
All the fast songs in the album – “Mono de Nazca,” “Pucusana,” “Piso
19” — are festejos. “Taita Guaranguito,” and “Toro Mata,” another
traditional piece, are landós. It’s a slower groove.”
Being
firmly rooted in Africa, explains Alegría, Afro-Peruvian music has no
clave, the underlying five beat pattern in much Afro-Cuban and
Afro-Caribbean music. Instead the styles within Afro-Peruvian music have
many variations but, like the African-rooted American jazz music, no
clave.
“It’s like we are having a conversation about jazz and
you say: ‘Is that swing? And that slow groove, is that swing too? And
that’s medium swing?’ This is exactly the same,” explains Alegría. “It’s
not a rule that you have to play festejos exactly the same every time.
It has many, many, many variants just as there are variants of swing
patterns in a ride cymbal for a drummer. So all the songs in Pucusana that are in festejo patterns
are all different. Even ‘My Favorite Things’ is done as a festejo, but
it’s in a minor mode, slightly slower than a regular festejo in major.”
Also, “Piso 19,” anchored in a festejo groove, at one point breaks into
double time swing and features very effective straight ahead blowing.
Alegría
has worked with The Peruvian National Symphony and artists such as
Maria Schneider, Placido Domingo, Kenny Werner, Ingrid Jensen, Tierney
Sutton, Natalie Cole, Bill Watrous, John Thomas and Alex Acuña.
But
with Pucusana, he firmly
establishes himself as an artist to watch in one of the most important
trends in contemporary jazz: The development around the world of a
fusion of jazz and indigenous styles. It’s a variant that draws from the
essential elements and practices in jazz while also incorporating some
of the repertoire, vocabulary and instruments of the local music.
“For
me this music is the result of an evolution over time, ” says Alegría.
“Growing up, while at the conservatory, there was a group of us in that
jazz workshop, listening to Afro-Peruvian music, artists like [singer]
Eva Ayllón and some World Music experiments like [the group] Hijos del
Sol. Those were our reference points – and then [those in that group]
we have gone in different directions, using jazz language in very
specific ways. “We’ve been working on this since the late 80s and it has
taken awhile, there’s been a lot of trial and error, but now we have a
defined sound that we are proud to call Afro-Peruvian jazz music.”
jazz, Louis Armstrong, and New Orleans, but the cries in Spanish, the
percussion, and the gentle, looping groove takes us to a different
place. Both familiar and fresh, those first bars on Peruvian trumpeter,
composer, and bandleader Gabriel
Alegría’s Pucusana, are
also a declaration of principle of Afro-Peruvian jazz music.
“Taita
Guaranguito,” is a traditional Afro-Peruvian folk song, smartly
reinterpreted as a jazz piece. In fusion, the sum is often less than the
parts. Here, it’s a celebration of a common spirit. “What we discovered
over the years working in this music, is that there is a certain
similar energy between pre-1940s jazz and Afro-Peruvian music,” says
Alegría. “There is a connection, something about their spirit, so when
you [bring them together], it feels really natural. We don’t play in a
traditional jazz style, but it’s not about harmonies or a certain
rhythm. It’s about the intention in the playing. There is a joy, a
positive energy, that is present in the jazz esthetic of musicians like
Louis Armstrong. This same esthetic is also present in Afro-Peruvian
music.”
“If you go to a traditional peña (a gathering where Afro-Peruvian music is played)
or a jarana (a musical party,
typically in someone’s home) in Lima, you’ll see there the energy you
see in the old films about jazz, that energy of the audience
participating, shouting, really connecting with the musician,” says
Alegría. “Even though our sound is modern, when you see the band
perform, what you get is very much the traditional Afro-Peruvian energy.
The audience is really part of what we do. There is a lot of shouting
encouragement. There are specific hand clap patterns to various grooves
that the audience does in traditional shows and we make sure the
audience knows these patterns and participates. The energy is always
there, and that energy is very much part of the Afro Peruvian tradition.
We are just using it in a modern context.”
Pucusana is Alegría´s second
recording with his Afro-Peruvian Sextet which features the leader on
trumpet and flugelhorn and originals by Alegría and saxophonist Laura Andrea Leguía, as well as two
traditional Afro-Peruvian songs and an innovative reading of Rogers and
Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things” arranged by Alegría. But while he has
done most of the writing and arranging, Alegría gives its members much
credit for the final result.
“Our percussionist, Freddy “Huevito” Lobatón is the super
star of our band,” says Alegría. “He provides us with the all-important
connection to the Afro-Peruvian tradition. Guitarist Yuri Juárez employs the vocabulary of
traditional criollo music in a
contemporary harmonic setting, and our drummer Hugo Alcázar is the pioneer of drumming in Afro-Peruvian
jazz music. All of the patterns he plays on the drum kit are derived
from individual percussion parts played by traditional instruments. The
sound we generate in the group is very much a collective effort and a
coming together of very distinct personalities.”
And for Pucusana, Alegria also got the
support of keyboardists and composers Russell
Ferrante (who appears on “Taita Guaranguito,” “Pucusana,” “Piso
19,” and “Mono De Nazca”) and Arturo
O’Farril, who contributes on “My Favorite Things.”
Gabriel
Alegria was born in 1970 into an important artistic family in Lima,
Perú. His grandfather Ciro Alegría was an influential novelist,
journalist and politician in the 1940s and 50s. His father, Alonso is
Perú’s most acclaimed playwright and theater director. He discovered
jazz by listening to records, and then got involved as a player at the
National Conservatory, where Martin Joseph, an English jazz pianist, was
leading a workshop. Since, he has received a master’s degree from the
City University of New York and a doctorate in jazz studies from the
University of Southern California.
“The first trumpeter I
discovered was Miles Davis and the electric things he was doing in the
1980s — and then I went backwards, finding what he and others had done
before. That’s how I entered jazz.”
Not surprisingly, echoes of
Miles Davis can be heard throughout Pucusana,
most notably in “Mono de Nazca,” an original piece that features
Alegría playing with a Harmon mute over a traditional festejo rhythm. The juxtaposition
creates a curious sort of Miles-in-Lima effect.
Alegría muses
“Miles is a big point of reference for me – his spirit, his willingness
to explore ideas, to go forward. Everything that we can do to
acknowledge Miles, we do.”
Throughout Pucusana, the music has a distinct, sensual bouncy
groove of Afro-Peruvian music. “In this album we use variations of two
rhythms: the festejo and the landó.
All the fast songs in the album – “Mono de Nazca,” “Pucusana,” “Piso
19” — are festejos. “Taita Guaranguito,” and “Toro Mata,” another
traditional piece, are landós. It’s a slower groove.”
Being
firmly rooted in Africa, explains Alegría, Afro-Peruvian music has no
clave, the underlying five beat pattern in much Afro-Cuban and
Afro-Caribbean music. Instead the styles within Afro-Peruvian music have
many variations but, like the African-rooted American jazz music, no
clave.
“It’s like we are having a conversation about jazz and
you say: ‘Is that swing? And that slow groove, is that swing too? And
that’s medium swing?’ This is exactly the same,” explains Alegría. “It’s
not a rule that you have to play festejos exactly the same every time.
It has many, many, many variants just as there are variants of swing
patterns in a ride cymbal for a drummer. So all the songs in Pucusana that are in festejo patterns
are all different. Even ‘My Favorite Things’ is done as a festejo, but
it’s in a minor mode, slightly slower than a regular festejo in major.”
Also, “Piso 19,” anchored in a festejo groove, at one point breaks into
double time swing and features very effective straight ahead blowing.
Alegría
has worked with The Peruvian National Symphony and artists such as
Maria Schneider, Placido Domingo, Kenny Werner, Ingrid Jensen, Tierney
Sutton, Natalie Cole, Bill Watrous, John Thomas and Alex Acuña.
But
with Pucusana, he firmly
establishes himself as an artist to watch in one of the most important
trends in contemporary jazz: The development around the world of a
fusion of jazz and indigenous styles. It’s a variant that draws from the
essential elements and practices in jazz while also incorporating some
of the repertoire, vocabulary and instruments of the local music.
“For
me this music is the result of an evolution over time, ” says Alegría.
“Growing up, while at the conservatory, there was a group of us in that
jazz workshop, listening to Afro-Peruvian music, artists like [singer]
Eva Ayllón and some World Music experiments like [the group] Hijos del
Sol. Those were our reference points – and then [those in that group]
we have gone in different directions, using jazz language in very
specific ways. “We’ve been working on this since the late 80s and it has
taken awhile, there’s been a lot of trial and error, but now we have a
defined sound that we are proud to call Afro-Peruvian jazz music.”
Upcoming
Gabriel Alegría- Afro Peruvian Sextet Events:
Friday, August 6 – Tutuma Social Club,
New York, NY – 8 PM, 10:30 PM
Saturday,
August 7 – Litchfield Jazz Festival,
Litchfield, CT – 12 PM
Saturday,
August 7 – Tutuma Social Club,
New York, NY – 8 PM, 10:30 PM
Sunday,
August 8 – Tutuma Social Club,
New York, NY – 7 PM
Gabriel Alegría- Afro Peruvian Sextet Events:
Friday, August 6 – Tutuma Social Club,
New York, NY – 8 PM, 10:30 PM
Saturday,
August 7 – Litchfield Jazz Festival,
Litchfield, CT – 12 PM
Saturday,
August 7 – Tutuma Social Club,
New York, NY – 8 PM, 10:30 PM
Sunday,
August 8 – Tutuma Social Club,
New York, NY – 7 PM
Click here to stream the
title track from Pucusana
Radio
Release Date:
August 31, 2010
title track from Pucusana
Gabriel Alegría · Pucusana
Saponegro Records
Print/Online Release Date:
Radio
Release Date:
August 31, 2010
Please
visit http://www.gabrielalegria.com
DL Media