|
Miguel Romero MIGUEL ROMERO's music is like a fine Cubano cigar, smooth, spicy and lingers in the air. In his new CD "ISLAND BREEZE, Miguel who hails from Cuba, pays tribute to his roots and his uncles who played nightly at the Tropicana in Havana. ROMERO has started a new musical genre called NU CUBAN rooted in rich tradition combined with a contemporary flavor. ROMERO has a voice of his own refreshingly devoid of formula. In 1997, Romero won a Certificate of Achievement in the Billboard Song Contest for "AZUL." In 1995, Romero wrote and produced Lovewatch featuring MICHELLE WEEKS' hit single "WAKE IT UP" which climbed to the top of the dance charts. Miguel started at age 17 with "BRAZUCA." He then joined Warner Brothers recording artist "MALO" as arranger, keyboardist and musical director performing "MALO's hit "SUAVICITO." Romero left "MALO" to form "COAL" featuring dance diva JOCELYN BROWN. They did a vibrant version of "HARLEM NOCTURNE." Miguel RomeroCuban Jazz Funk
Cuban Jazz Funk is a special music genre with a rich past. For those who are interested in Cuban Music I have listed several links about the history, books, the musicians and to many further reviews. Cuban Jazz Funk is a mixture of classical Jazz and the Afro Carribean roots. Miguel comments this genre: "As far as my take on Cuban music, I think Cuban music is the richest, funkiest, hippest music on the planet but I am biased because I was born there." When Miguel moved to Atlanta he checked out and jammed at
different clubs. From talking to the musicians he got wonderful references of
the best musicians in Atlanta. Atlanta has great musicians and they come from
Funk and R&B. His idea was to take their orientation and fuse it with his
Cuban vibe. The musicians taking part of this project are:
The introducing track Descarga Palmieri is a tribute to Charlie and Eddie Palmieri. Eddie Palmieri is one of the foremost Latin jazz pianists of the last half of the century, blessed with a technique that fuses such ubiquitous jazz influences as the styles of Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk and McCoy Tyner into a Latin context. Descarga Palmieri is an uptempo tune with much Jazz improvisations on a rich percussion background. Sunrise is a midtempo melodic tune with steel drums, congas and other percussion and piano accompany. The melodic part is played by Larry Jackson on sax. Zorro's Rollercoaster is an uptempo Jazz tune showcasing Miguels furios play on keys. An exceptionel solo performance is presented by Larry on flute and sax. The tune is 13:21 minutes long. Asked about the length, Miguel comments: ."I am aware that radio prefers tunes at about 4 minutes, however my concern for this cd was to capture the moment as we played my tunes. The running time of each track was not a primary concern. As far as radio play, I have been getting a lot of play on the cd and length has not been a problem." In The Moment slows down the tempo to an
atmospheric sound texture of sax and keyboard sounds enriched with percussion,
on which Larry develops a beautiful contemplative sax melody with
a reverb sound background. Citizen Of The World is a tune with up and down tempos. A mixture between Funk, Latin, Smooth Jazz and General Jazz with strong free Jazz accents supported by the percussion section. The tune presents Larry's long sax solo followed by Miguels piano solo. On Sieston Larry showcases anew a sax solo with a broad percussion support and Miguel's jazzy piano accords. Mediation is Miguel's solo piano project, which totally surprises with it's simplicity. This album is a gem for lovers of Latin Jazz with a strong affinity to General Jazz and jazzy improvisations.
© HBH
More infos about Romero:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/latin/a0998_01.htm http://www.escapeartist.com/cuba/music.htm http://www.discuba.caribbeansources.com/jazz1.html http://www.bluenote.com/cuba.asp http://www.allaboutjazz.com/latin/cdreviews.htm http://www.52ndstreet.com/reviews/latin/index.html http://www.picadillo.com/vgdesign/articles/990728z.html
|
|
|
|
|
