Adam Cruz | Milestone (Coming April 12th, 2011)
DRUMMER ADAM CRUZ
RELEASES DEBUT ALBUM – MILESTONE –
SET FOR RELEASE ON SUNNYSIDE RECORDS, APRIL 12
ALBUM FEATURES A STELLAR LINEUP:
MIGUEL ZENÓN, STEVE WILSON, CHRIS POTTER
STEVEN CÁRDENAS, EDWARD SIMON & BEN STREET
Drummer and composer Adam Cruz did not choose the title of his debut album lightly. Milestone is both a professional and personal marker.
“I’ve
had a vision to do something with my composing for a long time,” says
Cruz. “But I’ve also felt a certain ripening needed to happen. This is a
big step for me. I’ve invested a lot of time in practicing and
studying, working at my relationship with the piano and developing a
compositional voice. I’ve just turned 40 and I’m happy the record is
coming out now. There’s a certain amount of growth and maturity that I
have gone through, deepening my dedication as a drummer and composer,
particularly over the last decade.”
Comprising eight original compositions, and featuring a true all star band including Miguel Zenón, alto sax; Steve Wilson, soprano sax; Chris Potter, tenor sax; Steve Cárdenas, electric guitar; Edward Simon, piano, and Ben Street, bass, Milestone,
which was made possible by a grant by the Aaron Copland Recording Fund,
marks a before and after in Cruz’s development as an artist.
“This
wasn’t something I put together in a few months, where I wrote a few
tunes, theme-solos-theme, and went to the studio,” says Cruz. “I’ve been
watering the seeds over the years, sitting at the piano and going
through much trial and error. We all have a tendency to rush things to
try to just get them done, and for me it was important to take time to
see what was there. I tried to listen for when something felt true, and
original.”
What
makes such an approach even more remarkable is that over the past 20
years, Cruz probably could have easily cashed in on his credits any
time.
For
the past decade, Cruz has been a member of pianist Danilo Perez’s trio,
which also features bassist Ben Street. But, in a business known for
brief, constantly changing partnerships, he has chosen to develop and
maintain long-standing working relationships such as those with pianists
Perez and Simon, saxophonists David Sanchez and Steve Wilson, and the
Mingus Big Band. And even before that, Cruz had established his name
working with artists such as trumpeters Charlie Sepúlveda and Tom
Harrell, saxophonists Chris Potter, Pharaoh Sanders, and Paquito
D’Rivera, guitarist Charlie Hunter and, perhaps most notably, touring
and recording with pianist Chick Corea.
“That
was a pivotal moment for me. I was in my late 20s and after that, I
wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” says Cruz. “That’s when I did some
self reflection and decided how much I wanted to develop my own
composing and grow further as a drummer.”
In
2000, he started playing with Pérez, developing a personal and
professional relationship that, Cruz says, “has been very
transformative” for him. “I’ve done a lot of growing up while playing
with Danilo. He’s a very special musician and his uniquely passionate
spirit is infectious. Working in the trio this last decade I came to
recognize that there was more being asked of me in life as a creative
force, as an artist, and I’m really grateful for those challenges.
That maturation is reflected in the music in Milestone,
which achieves a rare balance between smart, detailed writing and
freedom. Also, while this is a date led by a drummer, the overall sound
of the recording, from the design of the pieces to the ensemble playing,
reflects Cruz’s approach, by which the requirements of the music
supersede any other needs — or, as he succinctly puts it: “music before
drums.”
“I love to groove and I love rhythm, and songs like ‘Emjé,’ and ‘The
Gadfly,’ are more vamp based, more groove oriented. But also there is a
certain amount of free improvisation I wanted to explore in the music,
where the emphasis is not the rhythmic foundations, as in songs like
‘Crepuscular,’ or ‘Magic Ladder.’
Most
of the songs on the album were written with specific players in mind,
and the writing certainly brings out the best from the standout,
hand-picked ensemble.
“Once
I had the guys in mind, it was important for me to bring them in, into
this compositional world in such a way that they would find material to
be inspired by. That is the balance: the written material, the rhythms,
the harmonies and melodies I’ve been hearing, while leaving the space
for their personalities, their ideas and their taste. I knew with this
personnel that I’d be getting the kind of depth, sensitivity and
versatility from them that would enable them to shine, yet also yield to
a group aesthetic at the same time”.
Born in New York City, Cruz is the son of Ray Cruz, a timbalero
who played with Mongo Santamaría, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz. “I used to
sit in on his gigs when I was a little boy. Music is second nature to
me,” reminisces Cruz.
His
parents separated when he was four, and when his father moved out, he
left him a drum kit as a gift. “My father also played drums, and he
passed down his interest in the drum set to me. But of course I’m
indebted that he couldn’t resist teaching me clave, cáscara and basic tumbaos
on the congas as well. He also taught me to read music and exposed me
to those timeless Miles Davis records of the 50’s and 60’s that I still
cherish today.”
Cruz
played drums throughout his youth and because he was exposed early on
to jazz, Latin music and other styles, he says he never thought about
styles or what kind of music he was playing. He studied at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University from 1988 to 1990. There he studied piano with Kenny Barron (“He taught me my first piano voicings,” says Cruz) and
met saxophonist David Sanchez, who was already making a name for
himself on the scene. David proved to be a key supporter for Cruz’s
career. He then transferred to Manhattan’s New School, studying with
teachers such as Kenny
Washington, Joe Chambers, Louis Nash, Portinho, Maria Schneider and
Victor Lewis (who recommended Cruz for the Mingus Big Band job).
His time at the school was “a challenge,” says Cruz, as his career was
taking off, while he was getting calls from Paquito D’Rivera, Charlie
Sepulveda, the late pianist Hilton Ruiz. Still, Cruz graduated,
receiving his BFA in 1993.
Cruz,
who didn’t grow up speaking Spanish, is part of a generation of players
who happen to be jazz musicians of Latin descent rather than Latin jazz
musicians. In fact, he defines himself as a “mixed” American. “It’s an
interesting thing”, he says. ” To find a way to integrate and live with
all these parts of my heritage, to identify with them all, without
feeling like my identity is caught exclusively in any one aspect of my
musical heritage”.
“The clave language is part of my DNA,” says Cruz. Perhaps because of, not in spite of that, Milestone features few explicit references to Latin music. Two notable exceptions are “Emjé,” paced briskly by a cáscara rhythm, and “Outer Reaches,” which hints at a Puerto Rican bomba
groove. Cruz is surrounded by strong and original musical
personalities, most of them leaders in their own right working precisely
in new fusions of jazz and indigenous Latin rhythms. However, Cruz
speaks in Milestone with a very personal, original voice.
“That’s
why I had to take my time honing in to what was truer and more original
to myself rather than copying an idiom and just plugging in my notes,”
he says. “That’s why I’ve been working on this music, off and on, for 10
years. My wife always asks me ‘How do you have so much patience?’ and I
always answer the same way: “Well, it’s not right till it’s right. And
I’ll know when it’s right”. Now, with Milestone, it’s right.
UPCOMING ADAM CRUZ APPEARANCES:
March 11 | Art After 5, Philadelphia Museum of Art | Philadelphia, PA
June 7-8 | Jazz Standard | New York, NY
June 21 | Scullers | Boston, MA
Adam Cruz · Milestone
Sunnyside Records · Release Date: April 12, 2011