Raul
Midón’s pointedly titled new album Don’t Hesitate demonstrates why—a dozen
years and eight albums into a recording career that’s won him massive critical
acclaim and a passionately devoted international fan base—he remains one of his
era’s most distinctive and beloved recording artists.
A
smoothly expressive singer, an emotionally insightful songwriter and an
exciting, innovative acoustic guitarist, Midón maintains an expansive musical
vision that’s led People magazine to call him “an eclectic adventurist” and
Huffington Post to dub him “a free man beyond category... he plays with such
freedom and joy that his hands smile.” The New York Times described him as “a
one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus.”
Billboard called him, simply and aptly, “a virtuoso.”
His
guitar playing is a syncopated, flamenco- and jazz-infused wonder in which
bass, harmony and melodic lines fly from the fret board in a way that seems to
belie the fact that all the music is being produced by just two hands. If that
weren’t enough, Midón busts out his improvisational mouth-horn technique, in
which he creates a bebop “trumpet” solo entirely with his lips, earning himself
a spontaneous burst of mid-song applause from the audience in the process.
While
Midón’s eclectic talents have won the admiration of fans and critics, they’ve
also led to him collaborating with such musical heroes as Herbie Hancock, Bill
Withers and Stevie Wonder; appearing on
recordings by Jason Mraz, Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg; and contributing to the
soundtrack to Spike Lee’s She Hate Me.
The
forward-thinking, habitually restless Midón continues to take on new creative
challenges on Don’t Hesitate. The 14-song album finds his infectious,
personally-charged songcraft as sharp and soulful as ever, manifesting an
organic blend of R&B, jazz and Latin elements that accentuate the lyrical
and melodic resonance of such memorable new tunes as “Libertad,” “Was It Ever
Really Love,” “God’s Dream” and the rousing title track, as well as an
inventive reboot of The Who’s classic-rock standard “I Can See for Miles.”
Don’t
Hesitate is a musical and personal milestone for Midón, who took control of
every aspect of the album’s recording process, despite being blind since birth.
The artist cut all of the tracks in his home studio, playing most of the
instruments himself and handling all of the project’s technical elements on his
own, utilizing special computer software that enabled him to engineer the
sessions.
“The
whole process was unlike any other record I’ve made,” Midón explains. Don’t
Hesitate finds the singer-guitarist adding producer-engineer to his portfolio
of talents. “Most of it was done in my basement, and I dealt with all the
technical issues myself. It began with me setting daily tasks, which was that
when I’m not on the road, I’m going to get up every morning and work on music.
And eventually I realized that I was making a record. It was a day-in, day-out
process of working through problems and figuring things out; ‘OK, how do I make
this happen, how do I get this to sound the way I want it to?’ And I had to
learn to balance the technical concerns with all the normal creative things of
getting your songs and performances right.”
“There’s
not a whole lot of trickery involved in this album,” he adds, “but it still has
that edgy, eclectic quality that I like, and I’m playing some instruments that
I don’t really play. Like the charango—I have a beautiful charango and I don’t
really know how to play it, but I figured out how to play what I wanted out of
it.”
Although
Midón handles most of Don’t Hesitate’s vocals and instruments himself, some
notable guest artists stepped up to contribute to the album. He duets with
world-class vocalists Dianne Reeves and Lizz
Wright on “Make It Better” and “Keep Holding On” respectively, while noted jazz
bassists Marcus Miller and Richard Bona lend their talents to “Mi Amigo Cubano”
and “If You Want Me To,” and the acclaimed sibling duo of Daniel and David
Bailen are featured on the catchy “All You Need.”
Another
noteworthy contributor to the album is R&B legend Bill Withers, who has
largely withdrawn from the spotlight in recent years, but whose longstanding
admiration for Midón was enough for the veteran icon to suggest that they try
writing together. The result is the lilting, tropical-flavored “Mi Amigo
Cubano,” whose Spanish lyrics mark it as a departure for both artists. Midón
and Withers can be seen working on the song in the 2009 Withers documentary
Still Bill.
The
openhearted sense of adventure that propels Don’t Hesitate has been a constant
in Raul Midón’s life. Born in rural Embudo, New Mexico to an African-American
mother and an Argentinean father, he grew up surrounded by music, thanks in
part to his father’s diverse record collection, which ranged from classical to
bebop to modern avant-garde composers. After taking an early interest in
drumming, Raul gravitated towards guitar during early childhood. After
attending the University of Miami, where he participated in that school’s
prestigious jazz curriculum, he became a part of that city’s music scene,
gaining attention for his own live gigs while becoming an in-demand backup
singer for such Latin-pop artists as Julio and Enrique Iglesias, Shakira and
Alejandro Sanz. In total, he recorded background vocals on more than 60 albums.
Although
he was making a good living singing backup in Miami, Midón felt the need to
pursue his own music. Thus in May 2002, he walked away from his lucrative life
as a sideman and moved to New York City in order to focus on his solo career.
There he met and began writing and recording with renowned DJ Little Louie
Vega, with whom he toured Europe, Japan and Australia. Meanwhile, he played
whatever solo gigs he could, developing the forceful, show-stopping performance
approach for which he’s now known. Although that style is now his trademark, it
was initially borne of his efforts to grab the attention of distracted barroom
crowds.
“My
first regular gig when I moved to New York,” Midón recalls, “was playing in
this bar on the West Side, between sets by a Top 40 band, surrounded by a lot
of drunk people. And here I come with just an acoustic guitar, so you’ve got to
find a way to get them to pay attention. So I took a warrior approach.
It was,
‘OK, I’m not just another singer-songwriter singing about sensitive things. I’m
gonna show you something that you’ve never seen before.’ That was a great
education, and I still approach it that way.
“Every
time I do a performance,” he says, “I’m working on something, whether it’s
diction or pitch or a certain guitar technique. When I’m up on stage, I clear
my mind of everything else, and I give people the best of what I’ve got at that
moment. Some nights I’ve got more than other nights, but I never phone it in,
and I never treat a gig like it’s less important than any other gig. And I’d
like to believe that people can feel that. They’re seeing me as pure and
truthful as I can be.”
Midón’s
growing reputation as a live performer helped him to win the attention of
legendary producer Arif
Mardin, who signed him to his first major-label deal. Midón’s 2005 album State
of Mind was greeted warmly by fans and critics alike, as were 2007’s A World
Within A World, 2009’s Synthesis, and 2012’s self-released live CD/DVD
Invisible Chains: Live from NYC, which solidified the devotion of a fervent fan
base that spans the globe.
The
vibrant creative spirit that animated those albums reaches a new level of
inspiration on
Don’t
Hesitate, underlining Raul Midón’s stature as a one-of-a-kind artist whose
lifelong pursuit of musical transcendence is an ongoing quest.
“I think
that what people respond to with me is that there’s no trickery about what I’m
doing,” Midón concludes. “I’m just singing and playing and trying to be as
honest as I can be. For me, the best recordings capture moments of real life,
and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
~ Mack Avenue
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