Gabriel Alegria 10 vinyl The release last year
of 10, on ZOHO Music, marked a decade of musical innovation by Gabriel Alegria's
Afro-Peruvian Sextet, its program richly infused with Alegría's trademark
synthesis of folkloric Afro-Peruvian rhythms, jazz, and other musical strains.
Now
Alegría's Saponegro Records is preparing to release an audiophile vinyl edition
of 10 on June 24 -- the first such record in the history of Afro-Peruvian
music.
"We
wanted to create a product that would stand the test of time," says
Alegría. "Equal attention, love, and care were placed on both the artistic
and technical aspects of the work."
The
resolution of the recording process was maintained at 88.2kHz at 24 bits
(rather than 96k) for reasons that included simple integer-ratio sample rate
conversion in order to avoid the phase shifts and "ringing" of
anti-alias filtering at 20kHz. It also meant less data to be moved around as
compared to 96kHz.
Julio
Ortega, the Peruvian mixing engineer, felt that this sampling rate offered the
best option for capturing the heart and soul of Afro-Peruvian music.
Specifically, the sound of Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments, which are made
entirely from wood (no skins), made it necessary to find a sampling rate and
bit depth that would capture their great profundity. The Peruvian cajón, which
in the hands of Freddy "Huevito" Lobatón includes a great dynamic
range and varied accents, posed a challenge not only of sound, but of the
"space" surrounding its sound, including the spontaneous shouts and
calls known as guapeo.
"For
all of these reasons, it was imperative to maintain the entire project at high resolution,"
says Ortega. "One of the keys was to capture the 60Hz and 40Hz frequencies
of the cajón without having them confused with those of the double bass or kick
drum. With the 88.2kHz sampling rate at 24 bits, we made the most use of the
physical space that contained the instruments during the recording. Further, in
order to avoid problems of distortion with future plug-ins, such as those found
in Universal Audio, it was important to keep the internal DAW process at 32
bits. All of this in preparation for the move to vinyl."
The end
result is a 33-RPM vinyl that was duplicated under the highest standards by
Morphius Records onto 180-gram audiophile quality vinyl. "In order to meet
the demands of 'air space' of the music," says Ortega, "we needed to
take full advantage of the available bandwidth and so it is possible to hear
the 'movement' created by each instrument, as it should be, where the cajón
lays the sonic foundation of heartfelt interpretations by masterful
artists."
10 is a concept
album showcasing carefully chosen American and Peruvian standards arranged in
the Afro-Peruvian style. Guest artists including bass legend Ron Carter, Grammy
Award-winning pianist Arturo O'Farrill, Yellowjackets keyboardist Russell
Ferrante, and tabla expert and Miles Davis alumnus Badal Roy augment the
sextet, half of whose players are based in Alegría's native Lima and half in
New York City. "We've brought together jazz musicians with eminent
Peruvian musicians, and we're the glue that holds it together," says
Alegría.
Freddy
"Huevito" Lobatón, a founding member of the sextet, is a master of
Afro-Peruvian percussion who grounds the band in the folkloric textures of the
box-like cajón, the cajita, and the quijada (made from the jaw bone of an ass).
Drummer Hugo Alcázar, also a founding member, incorporates the cajón into his
drum kit's polyrhythmic feel, while American-born drummer Shirazette Tinnin
gracefully navigates the predominantly 12/8 beats. Alegría shares the front
line with tenor saxophonist Laura Andrea Leguía, a tremendously expressive
player who helped found the band. Peruvian criollo guitarist Yuri Juárez
provides expertly calibrated rhythmic support and telegraphic solos. In New
York, bass duties are shared by two veteran masters, Puerto Rican-born John
Benitez and Nigerian-American Essiet Essiet.
Gabriel Alegria Born (1970) and raised in
Lima, Perú, Gabriel Alegria has divided
his time between Perú and the United States throughout his life. After
receiving his bachelor's degree at Kenyon College in Ohio, Alegría enrolled at
City College of New York and earned an M.A. under the tutelage of Ron Carter.
He then returned to Perú for seven years, five of them spent in the trumpet
section of the Lima Philharmonic while moonlighting as a jazz and rock musician
around the capital city. He relocated to Los Angeles and spent four and a half
years at the University of Southern California, where the Afro-Peruvian Sextet
first came together in 2005. While at USC (he earned his doctorate in 2007), Alegría
studied, worked, toured, and recorded with his mentor Bobby Shew, vocalist
Tierney Sutton, trombonist Bill Watrous, and keyboardist/composer Russell
Ferrante -- all of whom contributed to the sextet's debut CD, Nuevo Mundo
(Saponegro Records, 2008).
The band
released three more albums on Saponegro -- Pucusana (2010), El Secreto del Jazz
Afroperuano (2012), and Ciudad de Los Reyes (2013) -- in its crusade "to
spread Afro-Peruvian jazz music to the world," says the trumpeter.
Gabriel
Alegría and his Afro-Peruvian Sextet will be performing album release shows
6/17 at Club Bonafide, New York City, and 6/26 at the Pittsburgh Live Jazz
International Festival. The group returns to Club Bonafide 7/16 and 8/20.
