El Arte del Bolero – Volume 3
Miguel Zenon; Luis Perdomo
Miel Music (miguelzenon.bandcamp.com/album/el-arte-del-bolero-vol-3)
Expressions – Concerto for Alto Sax and Orchestra
Miguel Zenon; Barcelona Art Orchestra
Miel Music D.L. B 11731-2026 (barcelonaartorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/expressions-concerto-for-alto-saxophone-and-orchestra)
This is a very good year for Grammy-winning alto saxophonist, Miguel Zenon, who has recently released two consequential recordings: El Arte Del Bolero, Vol. 3 with pianist Luis Perdomo, and Expressions – Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra with the cutting edge, Barcelona Art Orchestra. Two diverse projects, spanning the musical panorama from intimate, emotional and lyrical duets to a large-scale work with one of the most highly regarded contemporary orchestral ensembles in the world.
El Arte Del Bolero is a collection of sensual, slow and emotional ballads, a modality that emerged from Spanish roots in Cuba in the 1880s and quickly became one of the most widely popular Pan-Latin musics. Eight sumptuous pieces are included here, composed by a variety of Latin artists, each of whom was in some way influenced by jazz. While each track is superb, clear highlights include La Gloria Eres Tú – a stunning alto-solo intro which segues into a marvelous, symbiotic musical experience. The romantic longing of this composition and the depth of emotion from both players is palpable, and Un Amor De La Calle (A Love of the Street) is almost unbearably heart-rending, rife with loss and regret. Zenon’s alto sobs with sadness and Perdomo plays with an intuitive touch of emotional understanding.
For Expressions Zenon joins forces with the Barcelona Art Orchestra in a large-scale work exploring the many dimensions of human expression through the dialogue between soloist and ensemble. Structured in four movements, it reflects contrasting emotional states ranging from silence and whispering to lament and outcry. Each section has been composed by one of the Orchestra’s founding Artistic Directors: Nestor Gimenez, Lluc Casares, Joan Vidal and Lluis Vidal. Part l: Silenci/Xiscle (Gimenez) is rife with haunting themes and sonic chaos that bathe the listener in a sense of otherworldliness, while intermittent guitar lines sooth the tortured chord pads. Zenon enters following a volcanic explosion of sound, after which he creates a musical, lyrical and malleable infra-structure over a relentless percussive line. His tone is crystalline and soulful, and his complex improvisations, in tandem with the more structured orchestral lines, are breathtaking. Also stunning is Part ll: Canta/Parla (Casares), a languid, torrid, trip through the jungle on an ancient river, and as elements of swing begin to enter the equation, the vista of this composition stretches to the absolute edges of our collective imagination. The additional movements are equally innovative, challenging and thrilling.
