Once again, Jewish music
standout trumpeter David Buchbinder and Cuban piano master Hilario Durán bring
their award-winning compositional prowess to create a unique musical landscape
inspiring the virtuosic performances captured on this disc.
The
group's self-titled debut CD (Tzadik) was lauded with dozens of rave reviews
and won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Best World Music Group/Recording. The
CD was praised for its "...delicately textured and dazzlingly tuneful
[compositions], and powerful, swinging and lyrical playing..." that is
"passionate, dancing and completely irresistible." Since its release
the band has toured across North America, playing to sold-out houses at
festivals, concerts and clubs.
Now,
Buchbinder and his musical compatriots have upped the ante with a renewed focus
on the actual musical sources that flow through the cultures in common, sources
that lead directly to the music of Andalusia, the polyglot culture of southern
Spain. While the first CD was all original instrumental music, Buchbinder has
opened the sound up with the inclusion of four vocal tracks, all coming from
the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) tradition; two are traditional melodies and texts
completely reimagined by Durán and two are post-war Ladino poems set to
original music by Buchbinder. Both composers have managed to include the voice
with no sacrifice in the band's much-lauded power and drive.
Odessa/Havana
is a who's who of award-winning jazz and world music masters. Buchbinder was
the leader of the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and his own eponymous jazz
ensemble and is known for creating music-centered, multidisciplinary
spectacles. Durán was the musical director and pianist for Arturo Sandoval and
leads both an award-winning trio and big band. Other standouts are bassist and
producer Roberto Occhipinti (Jane Bunnett, Gorrilaz) and vocalist Michal Cohen (Meredith
Monk, Uri Caine, Frank London), though all of the band members and the guest
artists are widely traveled powerhouse musicians.
Buchbinder
sees this genre-bending project in an interesting light: as an example of what
he calls "post-multicultural creation, a process where two composers
grounded in complementary cultures drew on the sonic essence of each to create
a truly new sound that is definitely not a mash-up." In fact, the creation
of the Odessa/Havana project has been part of the inspiration for the founding
of Diasporic Genius, a Toronto-based initiative whose mission is empowering
people to make real, positive change in their lives, their communities and
their cities, by teaching and applying the power of the creative imagination
and activating the hidden resource of diversity.
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