I feel that Golden City – saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón’s sweeping suite inspired by the complex and promising history of the Bay Area – is a masterpiece.
Featuring a brilliant band with Zenón, Miles Okazaki, Matt Mitchell, Dan Weiss, Chris Tordini, Daniel Díaz, Alan Ferber, Diego Urcola, and Jacob Garchik, the album will be released August 30 via Miel Music.
One of the most lauded drummers in modern jazz, Dan Weiss, releases his daring and compelling new trio album Even Odds – featuring longtime collaborators alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón and pianist Matt Mitchell – on March 29, 2024 via Cygnus Recordings.
“Undeniably virtuosic and progressive, Weiss works in unconventional ways.” – Filipe Freitas, JazzTrail
“[Weiss is] best known as a virtuosic, in-demand jazz drummer… and an ambitious, imaginative bandleader.” – Hank Shteamer, The New York Times
Saxophonist Miguel Zenón and pianist Luis Perdomo’s 2021 album El Arte Del Bolero was, as Morgan Enos wrote in JazzTimes, “Endlessly listenable, emotionally probing, and ECM-level atmospheric…a treasure box you’ll return to again and again.”
Now the two masters are back with the follow-up, simply titled El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 2, slated for digital release August 25, 2023 via Zenon’s Miel Music.
They celebrate the album with concerts:
– Tuesday, August 22 at An Die Musik in Baltimore / – Wednesday, August 23 Solar Myth in Philadelphia / – Thursday, August 24 at Joe’s Pub in NYC
“Endlessly listenable, emotionally probing, and ECM-level atmospheric, El Arte del Bolero is a treasure box you’ll return to again and again.” – Morgan Enos, JazzTimes
Due out via Sunnyside Records on the author’s 100th birthday, November 11, 2022, Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite features Yeager’s gifted septet along with guest soloist Miguel Zenón
“ [Jason] always impressed me with his talent, his curiosity and his desire to create his own music while really investigating the jazz piano tradition.” – Fred Hersch, pianist/composer, Doris Duke fellow
“This music is marvelous and I believe would have been right up my father’s alley.” – Edith Vonnegut, artist
Album Release Concerts Oct. 28 Framingham, MA; Oct. 29 Portland, ME; Nov. 10 South Bend, IN; Nov. 11 Indianapolis, IN; Nov. 12 Jasper, IN; December 9 Brooklyn, NY and more
Out August 26, 2022 on Miel Music, Música de Las Américas features all-new music from Zenón for his long-time working quartet plus master percussionists from his native Puerto Rico.
“This music is inspired by the history of the American continent: not only before European colonization, but also by what’s happened since—cause and effect,” says Miguel Zenón of his latest album of all original works, Música de Las Américas. The music grew out of Zenón’s passion for the history of the American continent, and the resulting album pays tribute to its diverse cultures while also challenging modern assumptions about who and what “America” is.
release date: 11.06.2021 via Pyroclastic Records
The recording and accompanying film showcase the band’s synergistic connection and exhilarating, alchemical mix of musical forms
5-stars. “Haitian traditions inspire the percussionist’s exhilarating hybrid of melodic drums, evocative vocals and fiery improvisation… Smith wanted the resources of traditional vocalists, highly melodic drummers and melody-instrument jazz improvisers to become
4-stars. “Smith brings a jazz sensibility, opening the band to exploration and excavation into the pieces he built from drum patters with new songs written by and traditional tunes woven in by Brevil…The results are inviting and engaging, playing to tradition without being beholden to it.” – Kurt Gottschalk, Stereophile
5 stars. “The pieces are all profoundly original…. simply extraordinary, innovative and important…infinitely beautiful and pure…. a truly rare work that – at these levels of quality – has never really been even imagined before.” – Vic Albani, All About Jazz Italia – Album of the Week
“I’ve been on the scene, and know a lot of people, but projects like this are the kind of thing you live for.” – saxophonist and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón
With its remarkable merging of traditional Haitian Vodou with contemporary jazz and beyond, the groundbreaking album
release date: 08.01.2021 via Miel Music
On September 28, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, alto saxophone icon Miguel Zenón and pianist Luis Perdomo recorded a concert at The Jazz Gallery in New York City which was livestreamed in November. When they listened to the recording of the concert, they knew it was something to share.
release date: 21.08.2020 Via Paradox / L’Autre
4.5 stars: “This excellent album is the debut release of French drummer Raphaël Pannier. It might do well to remember that name…. flawless drumming and compositional skills…. [The album] is at once sophisticated and complex while presenting ideas that are just right for the moment. The Pannier originals sound like the work of a fully mature musician.” – Keith Black, Winnepeg Free Press
release date: April the 3rd,2020 via Edition Records
Secrets Are The Best Stories is the new album from acclaimed vocalist and Grammy-winning artist Kurt Elling featuring renowned pianist Danilo Pérez. Released on the British label, Edition Records, this vibrant and adventurous new album not only marks a vital new collaboration between two of the greats in the music but is an album that confirms Kurt Elling as the male vocalist of his generation – one who has the presence, the message and the artistic vision to stand out from the rest.
Release on: August 30th, 2019
“He wasn’t just one of the guys. For me, he was beyond that” said Miguel Zenón about Ismael (“Maelo”) Rivera (1931-1987), the subject of his latest project, Sonero. “He exemplified the highest level of artistry. He was like Bird, Mozart, Einstein, Ali – he was that guy.”
