Alto saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón—MacArthur “Genius,” Guggenheim fellow, Doris Duke Artist, and 2024 Grammy winner—returns with a landmark release: Vanguardia Subterránea, the first-ever live album from his longstanding quartet. Arriving August 29, 2025 on Miel Music, the project commemorates 20 years of creative unity and innovation with pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Henry Cole.
Recorded over two magical nights at New York City’s Village Vanguard in September 2024, the album is a milestone not just for the quartet, but for Zenón’s ever-evolving legacy. Despite playing hundreds of shows globally, this marks the first live documentation of a group whose chemistry has only deepened with time.
“This album has an energy that's really different than all our other records,” says Zenón. “Because it was recorded in this sanctuary of music.”
Founded in 1935, the Vanguard is one of jazz’s most sacred venues, and Zenón’s group has held multiple week-long residencies there. In fact, they’ll return again September 16–21, 2025, to celebrate the album’s release in the very space it was born.
The album opens with “Abre Cuto Güiri Mambo,” a bozal phrase urging listeners to tune in and hear the groove. It’s a bold call to action rooted in Cuban-Congo rhythms and the layered horn traditions of mambo pioneers.
Zenón then dives into Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe’s 1973 classic “El Día de Mi Suerte”, a track close to his heart from his teenage days in San Juan salsa bands. As always, Zenón reimagines rather than imitates—preserving emotional DNA while infusing the piece with his own rhythmic and harmonic language.
One of the album’s most poignant pieces is “Vita”, originally written as a birthday gift for Zenón’s grandmother. Now reworked with a chacarera pulse and full quartet arrangement, it showcases Zenón’s melodic sensitivity and emotional depth.
“Dale la Vuelta” is built on rhythmic counterpoint—where patterns in 7 and 8 cycle between each other to create a new pulse. The quartet makes the complexity feel effortless, a testament to their decade-spanning synergy.
With “Coordenadas,” Zenón gets personal: encoding the birth coordinates of each band member and the Vanguard itself into musical pitches. It’s an inspired concept that fuses origin and place into an avant-garde but accessible framework.
The title track, “Vanguardia Subterránea”, offers a groove-heavy tribute to the Vanguard’s storied history, layered with rhythmic dislocation and eventual cohesion—a metaphor for the club’s unique energy.
“Bendición” is a loving tribute to Zenón’s mother and Latin American customs of showing respect through blessings. Emotional and warm, it reveals Zenón’s deep connection to cultural tradition and family.
Closing out the set is “Perdóname,” a new take on Gilberto Santa Rosa’s 1990 hit. Instead of mimicking Santa Rosa’s voice, Zenón and his band channel the spirit of the song—its flow, its passion, and its improvisational brilliance, evoking the essence of a true sonero through jazz phrasing.
Vanguardia Subterránea isn’t just a live recording—it’s a living, breathing document of musical brotherhood and cultural memory. With bold compositions, deeply personal themes, and fresh interpretations of Latin classics, the album affirms Zenón’s place as a boundary-pushing figure in contemporary jazz. It's a must-listen for longtime followers and newcomers alike.
No comments:
Post a Comment