“Simply put,
Canto América is a certified masterpiece – one of the most aurally-arresting
and culturally-distinctive recordings in recent memory.” – Mark Holston, Latino
Magazine.com
World-renowned
trombonist Wayne Wallace and percussionist Michael Spiro have earned a GRAMMY
® nomination for “Best Latin Jazz Album”
for their CD Canto América on the Patois label. The Grammy Awards ceremony will
take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 12, 2017.
"We are
extremely proud of this recording, and would like to take the opportunity to
personally thank the Academy and all of the musicians who participated in the
making of this project,” say Spiro and Wallace.
Wallace,
Spiro and La Orquesta Sinfonietta (consisting of 35 performers, many of whom
are affiliated with Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where Wallace
and Spiro teach) weave a colorful tapestry of classic-to-modern rhythms –
bolero to timba, Haitian petro to Cuban rumba, mambo to guiro – refreshed by
traditional and newly composed compositions, along with surprising treatments
of 20th-century standards. Thus the Great American Song “Stardust” is recast as
a danzón, while the familiar John Coltrane vehicle “Afro-Blue” transforms into
a Creole masterpiece.
Canto
América artfully balances African and Western influences by way of “a strong
rhythmic base over which orchestral elements of European classical music are
featured,” write Wallace and Spiro in their engrossing liner essay. But here,
the rhythmic base combines folkloric rhythms with the modern grooves of Wayne
Wallace’s well-established Latin Jazz Quintet. This fusion forms the foundation
for Canto América, upon which the co-leaders use post-bop harmonies, emblematic
compositions, and their own eclectic experiences to create music far removed
from the usual Latin Jazz formats.
The
recording earned rave reviews:
"[Wallace],
Spiro, and Orquestra Sinfonietta deliver something nearly peerless in Canto
America. Though highly disciplined and carefully plotted, it is far from an
academic exercise. Jazz improvisation and individual acumen shine through while
feel and groove consciousness are paramount. Ultimately, this is more than the
knowledge and practice of traditions; it is the collective expression of human
imagination and heart. Brilliant." – Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com
“Simply put,
Canto América is a certified masterpiece – one of the most aurally-arresting
and culturally-distinctive recordings in recent memory.” – Mark Holston, Latino
Magazine.com
Five stars:
"...an ambitious and panoramic endeavor...an engaging narrative of the
Afro-Caribbean experience on a grand scale.... Michael Spiro and Wayne Wallace
have done a tremendous favor to those interested in not only the music, but
also the academic and intellectual approach to its formation and evolution as
well." – James Nadal, All About Jazz
"What
beauty! What a rarity!....prodigious work..." – Eric Gonzalez, Herencia
Latina
"...joyous,
celebratory.... a vision of groundbreaking jazz. The longtime collaborators are
in top form in this fusion of ancient folkloric rhythms, modern Latin jazz
grooves, post-bop harmonies, and stunning orchestral work." – Monarch
Magazine
"...sweeping
and gorgeous.... Never unwieldy in its largeness, the music is focused,
unpretentious, and heartfelt. Highly rewarding." – Jeff Potter, Modern
Drummer
In his
four-decade career, San Francisco native Wayne Wallace has collaborated with
artists ranging from Count Basie to Stevie Wonder, Sonny Rollins to Carlos
Santana, Tito Puente to Lena Horne and Aretha Franklin – as sideman, composer,
arranger, and producer. His debut album as a leader, 2000’s Three In One
(Spirit Nectar), showcased his writing skills and his encyclopedic knowledge of
Afro-Cuban rhythms, the result of years of music-making in the close-knit Bay
Area jazz community, where Wallace has played an oversized role. He has earned
particular notice for his approach to Latin Jazz, a vision shaped by his work
with Latin Jazz percussion giants Pete Escovedo and John Santos, in whose
Machete Ensemble he served as music director for more than 20 years. This is
the eighth time that Wallace — a San Francisco native who splits his time
between the Bay Area and the Midwest where he’s a professor at Indiana
University's Jacobs School of Music — has been on a GRAMMY nominated album.
Michael
Spiro has performed on each of those nominated albums – a mere fraction of the
literally hundreds of wide-ranging albums on which he has worked, which include
GRAMMY-nominated albums by John Santos, pianist Mark Levine, and vocalist
Karrin Allyson. He has also performed with Ella Fitzgerald, Carlos Santana, and
McCoy Tyner. Internationally recognized for his expertise and his exploration
of African and Latin rhythms, he has authored three books on Afro-Caribbean
percussion. The first album under his own name, BataKetu (with Mark Lamson),
released in 1996, was named by DRUM! Magazine as one of the “Top 50 Drum
Records” of all time.
Wallace and
Spiro met more than 30 years ago in San Francisco, forging a personal and
professional relationship tempered by their shared interest in the music of
Cuba. In 2008, Spiro joined the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at IU,
and under his direction the percussion department grew from its emphasis on
orchestral work to include the world’s rhythms. He soon began leading a Latin
Jazz big band at the school, which used many of Wallace’s acclaimed
arrangements, which led to a guest appearance with the band -- and eventually
to the school hiring Wallace as a professor in 2013.
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