“In this case these are songs I know well so it’s actually difficult for me not to think about the lyrics. “Very often when I play this type of material I’m thinking about the lyrics to the song,” he says. The wind ensemble and Zenón’s core quartet – Luis Perdomo, piano Hans Glawischnig, bass and Henry Cole, drums – were recorded in the same room, live. “We have been playing some of these songs with the quartet for awhile, and after every concert we have people who come to tell us ‘You know, my mom used to listen to that song on the radio…’ or ‘I used to hear that song when I was younger…’.” “These are songs I know well because either my parents listened to them or they were very popular when I was a kid, so I grew up listening to them,” he says and, he notes, he’s not alone. Zenón has explored his musical heritage previously in albums such as Jibaro (2005), in which he revisited the country music of Puerto Rico, and last year’s Esta Plena, in which he reinterpreted the traditional plena style.īut in Alma Adentro the subject is popular song – and it transcends regionalisms.įor Zenón, the connection to these songs is deeply personal. From there on, the project started to take shape.” “… I started focusing on the similar characteristics between The Puerto Rican Songbook and The Great American Songbook, not only musically, but also in terms of cultural impact.
“This project grew out of my interest in exploring the history and development of The Puerto Rican song,” says Zenón. The music was arranged by Zenón and orchestrated by Argentine pianist, composer and arranger Guillermo Klein. The album is comprised of ten pieces, two each by Bobby Capó, Tite Curet Alonso, Pedro Flores, Rafael Hernández, and Sylvia Rexach, who Zenón refers to as “the George Gershwins, Cole Porters and Jerome Kerns of Puerto Rican song,” and it features his regular quartet augmented by a 10-piece wind ensemble. Now, in Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook, his new recording for Marsalis Music of classic Puerto Rican songs, saxophonist, composer and arranger Miguel Zenón brings that jazz tradition home – his home. In fact, through the course of jazz history, popular songs have served as a source of inspiration for jazz artists. Many of the most cherished standards in jazz were born as popular songs. Grammy-Nominated MacArthur Fellow & Saxophonist-Composer Miguel Zenón Releases His 5th Album For Marsalis MusicĪlma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook Tours Worldwide
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