Internationally
acclaimed saxophonist/composer Miguel Zenón performs in ten European cities
from October 30 to November 13, 2015.
Zenon will be joined by his quartet featuring drummer Henry Cole,
pianist Luis Perdomo and bassist Hans Glawischnig, performing new music as well
as music from his highly acclaimed 2014 recording Identities are Changeable, a
groundbreaking project focusing on the cultural identity of the Puerto Rican
community in NYC.
Performance
dates:
Friday,
October 30 – Belgrade Jazz Festival, Belgrade, Serbia
Saturday,
October 31 – Sabac Jazz Festival, Sabac, Serbia
Tuesday,
November 3 – Un Tubo, Siena, Italy
Thursday,
November 5 – Bologna Jazz Festival, Cantina Ventivoglio, Bologna, Italy
Friday,
November 6 – Berlin Jazz Festival, Berlin, Germany
Saturday,
November 7 – Le Moulin a Jazz, Vitrolles, France
Monday,
November 9 – Jazz Kongress, Freiburg, Germany
Tuesday,
November 10 – Jazz Campus Club, Basel, Switzerland
Wednesday,
November 11 – Jazz à L'Ouest, Rennes, France
Friday,
November 13 – Porgy & Bess, Vienna, Austria
Zenón, whom
the LA Times calls "a richly inventive saxophonist," recently
performed a special guest with Danilo Perez at the Pan American Games in
Toronto, presented his groundbreaking work "Identities Are
Changeable" with video at the Conservatorio de Música in his native San
Juan, Puerto Rico, served as musical director for the 50th Anniversary celebration
of Duke Ellington's first Concert of Sacred Music at Grace Cathedral in San
Francisco, and did a residency and tour with the SFJAZZ Collective. Following this tour, he'll be in residence at
Columbia University from November 16-20.
A multiple Grammy®
nominee and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow, Zenón is one of a select group of
musicians who have masterfully balanced and blended the often-contradictory
poles of innovation and tradition. Widely considered one of the most
groundbreaking and influential saxophonists of his generation, Zenón has also
developed a unique voice as a composer and as a conceptualist, concentrating
his efforts on perfecting a fine mix between Latin American folkloric music and
jazz. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenón has recorded and toured
with a wide variety of musicians including Charlie Haden, Fred Hersch, Kenny
Werner, Bobby Hutcherson and Steve Coleman and is a founding member of the
SFJAZZ Collective.
Zenón's
latest recording Identities are Changeable, released November 4, 2014 on his
Miel Music label, is a groundbreaking project focusing on the cultural identity
of the Puerto Rican community in NYC.
The point of departure for the album was the question Zenón, who came to
New York in 1998 to pursue a career in music, had been asking himself and his
friends: What does it mean to be Puerto Rican in 21st-century New York
City? Zenón did his own fieldwork for
the project, interviewing New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent, focusing on
their experience as second-generation Puerto Ricans. The result is a song cycle
for large ensemble, with his longtime quartet (Luis Perdomo, piano; Hans
Glawischnig, bass; Henry Cole, drums) at the center, incorporating recorded
voices from a series of interviews.
Commissioned by Montclair State University's Peak Performances series,
it has a multi-media element with audio and video footage from the interviews,
complemented by a video installation created by artist David Dempewolf. The piece has been performed at venues and
festivals worldwide.
The album
has received extensive critical acclaim:
"Identities
are Changeable is a stoutly ambitious new statement by the alto saxophonist and
composer Miguel Zenón…His focus turns here to the Nuyorican experience,
interpolating snippets of oral history into his state-of-the-art big band
arrangements." - Nate Chinen, New York Times
"Music
of extraordinary depth and originality... his most ambitious recording to
date." - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
"...a celebratory and poignant dive into
understanding the bicultural identity of New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent.
It is an album of highly charged and personal music that at its heart showcases
storytelling with passion." - Dan Ouelettte, DownBeat
"Two words: cultural treasure! In
"Identities are Changeable", saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón
illustrates why he is a Guggenheim Fellow and a Mac Arthur Genius. Zenón takes
us on a jazzy journey filled with bomba and plena, spoken word, his fluid and
flowy sax, and the rich sounds of his long time quartet. But this is much more
than a jazz album--it's a multi-layered documentary inside a jazz album."
- Sandra Guzman, NBC News
"A
richly inventive saxophonist who has often been heard on this coast in his
longtime association with the SFJAZZ Collective, Miguel Zenón issued maybe the
Latin Jazz album of the year in 'Identities Are Changeable.'" - Chris
Barton, LA Times
"...the
music is much too majestic to be ignored. Harmonically, and especially
rhythmically, its layered multiple meters create a totally different music that
is neither conventional jazz nor too obviously related to the island
itself...[This is] Zenón in spellbinding form and his terrific rhythm team,
which inspires the ensemble, with drummer Henry Cole occasionally achieving
seemingly impossible polyrhythms." - Tony Hall, Jazzwise magazine (UK)
"Thought-provoking
interviews, memorable performances, and excellent composition, Zenón's
Identities Are Changeable has a distinct identity all its own." - Mark F.
Turner, All About Jazz
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