Miguel Zenon

Miguel Zenón: Golden City

by Alberto Bazzurro
November 5, 2024

La musica contenuta in questo album trae spunto da una commissione ricevuta da Miguel Zenón per la composizione di una suite basata sulla storia di San Francisco e della Bay Area, evidenziando in particolare i contributi offerti da parte delle comunità giapponese, cinese, messicana e, ovviamente, afroamericana. Ne è nata così questa Golden City, presentata in anteprima al San Francisco Jazz Center nel 2022 e incisa poi a fine novembre dell'anno seguente. Per l'occasione Zenón (portoricano, lo ricordiamo) ...

Miguel Zenon: Golden City

by Dan McClenaghan
September 22, 2024

The alto saxophone rose to jazz prominence in the 1940s, under the influence of Charlie Parker and the birth of bebop. Important players such as Art Pepper, Lee Konitz and Ornette Coleman took the horn in their own directions, crafting distinctive alto saxophone voices. Moving ahead to the new millennium, no alto saxophonist has entered the tradition with more style and panache than Miguel Zenon. His Alma Aldentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook (Marsalis Music, 2011), Tipico (Miel Music, 2017) and ...

Misha Tsiganov: Painter Of Dreams

by Edward Blanco
August 21, 2024

A mainstay musician in the vibrant and exciting jazz scene of New York City, Russian-born pianist Misha Tsiganov presents his fifth Criss Cross album, Painter of Dreams, which features six original compositions and two familiar reimagined standards, with every piece but one running from between eight to eleven-minutes in length. The pianist expands his musical boundaries, implements new elements, augments the horn section and, with regard to his own playing, states that he was moved to include an “entirely acoustic ...

Misha Tsiganov: Painter Of Dreams

by Neil Duggan
July 14, 2024

Like a fine wine, Russian-born and New York-based pianist Misha Tsiganov, seems to improve with age. His music continues to evolve and his creativity hits a high spot with Painter Of Dreams. He has appeared on countless albums over the years and has played with such musicians as Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson and Michael Brecker. His ability to shift tempos and mix meters in his compositions has always been notable. Recent work with the Romanian Radio Big Band has also ...

Dan Weiss: Even Odds

by Mark Corroto
April 25, 2024

Drummer and composer Dan Weiss turns his experiments and percussion exercises into compositions on this trio recording Even Odds. In other words, he composes, not on a piano, but with his drum kit for the twenty tracks heard here. That fact may not be groundbreaking except that Weiss recorded those tracks and sent the music to alto saxophonist Miguel Zénon and pianist Matt Mitchell to contemplate before gathering in the studio to improvise in this overdubbed recording. Weiss' ...

Dan Weiss: Even Odds

by Mike Jurkovic
March 20, 2024

To say that “It Is What It Is"--regarding drummer/composer Dan Weiss's feverish first track on the fervently episodic Even Odds--misses the whole point entirely. It could be anything. And within its spacious yet oddly claustrophobic three-and-a-half minutes, evolutions come and go in real time. And real time is a bitch if you cannot keep up. It is a wild statement but one that needs to be said, especially at the onset of music such as Even Odds. It ...

Mehmet Ali Sanlikol: Turkish Hipster: Tales From Swing To Psychedelic

by Jack Bowers
October 8, 2023

Those who believe the term Turkish Hipster has to be an oxymoron should get to know composer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, a Turk whose seventh album, subtitled “Tales from Swing to Psychedelic," is about as hip as can be. Sanlikol knows where is going but chooses to get there in his own special way, using every weapon in his musical arsenal to create vivid sound pictures whose jazz components rest solidly within a Middle Eastern framework that set them apart from ...

New York's Smoke Jazz Club Announces Line-up For July Including Miguel Zenon, Tierney Sutton, Ron Carter And More

Source: AMT Public Relations
June 5, 2023

Rated the #1 Jazz Club in New York City (Secret NYC), Smoke Jazz Club welcomes some of today’s leading artists to the stage during the month of July. Making their Smoke Jazz Club debuts are alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón, trumpeter Tony Glausi, and vocalist Tierney Sutton. Many jazz legends return to the Smoke stage including Ron Carter, Louis Hayes, Billy Harper, and more. Please scroll down for the complete schedule or visit SMOKEjazz.com. Thu-Sun Jun 29-Jul 2 Russell Malone Quartet ...
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Internationally Renowned Saxophonist/Composer Miguel Zenón And His Quartet Tour To Ten European Cities From October 30 To November 13, 2015

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
November 3, 2015

“Two words: cultural treasure!” —Sandra Guzman, NBC News Internationally acclaimed saxophonist/composer Miguel Zenón performs in ten European cities from October 30 to November 13, 2015. Zenon will be joined by his quartet featuring drummer Henry Cole, pianist Luis Perdomo and bassist Hans Glawischnig, performing new music as well as music from his highly acclaimed 2014 recording Identities are Changeable, a groundbreaking project focusing on the cultural identity of the Puerto Rican community in NYC. Performance dates: Friday, October 30
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New England Conservatory’s Jazz Lab with Miguel Zenon

Source: Ann Braithwaite
March 4, 2015

One-Week Intensive Jazz Program for Students Ages 14-18 Sunday, June 21 – Friday, June 26, 2015 Special Guest Artists MacArthur Fellow and Grammy Nominee Miguel Zenón plus NEC Jazz Studies Chair Ken Schaphorst headline the week holding masterclasses paired with evening concerts of their music Students ages 14-18 are invited to explore jazz at New England Conservatory during Jazz Lab, a one-week intensive program for students of all proficiency levels, from throughout the United States and abroad. Instrumentalists and vocalists ...
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Miguel Zenón On Teaching At New England Conservatory

Source: Ann Braithwaite
January 15, 2015

Miguel Zenón, the alto saxophonist and composer who has blended jazz and the music of his native Puerto Rico into one of the most passionate and coherent forms of contemporary expression, exemplifies the new possibilities that jazz envisions in the 21st century. His triumphs of the past decade, at the head of his own quartet and as a founding and ongoing member of the SFJazz Collective, have inspired Zenón to continue pushing creative boundaries. Identities are Changeable is the most ...
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Winter at the Annenberg Center Heats up with Grammy-Nominated Latin Jazz Musician Miguel Zenon

Source: AAJ Staff
January 8, 2013

Philadelphia, PA: Acclaimed Latin jazz saxophonist Miguel Zenón will take the Annenberg Center stage to “create music that is full of life, history, richness, and realness” (All Music Guide). The 2008 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s prestigious Genius Award, Zenón possesses a progressive sound that fuses contemporary jazz and Latin rhythms, particularly drawing on his own Puerto Rican heritage. This performance will take place on Saturday, February 16 at 7 PM and 9 PM. Tickets are $20-$45 (prices are subject ...
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Saxophonist Miguel Zenon Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
October 10, 2011

At the dawn of the second decade of his career, alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón has established himself as one of the most sophisticated and stylish players of the new millennium. In a very short time, Zenón has made his mark as a composer, band leader, educator, and jazz advocate. He has performed and recorded with scores of the scene's most prominent musicians as leader, side man and member of the groundbreaking SFJAZZ Collective, where he is the sole founding member ...
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Saxophonist/Composer Miguel Zenon and "Esta Plena" Live at the Jazz Standard in New York City - June 10th thru 13th, 2010.

Source: Two for the Show Media
May 5, 2010

Saxophonist/Composer & Bandleader Miguel Zenon will be performing with his Esta Plena Group at The Jazz Standard in New York City from Thursday June 10th, 2010 thru Sunday June 13th, 2010--in celebration of his latest release on Marsalis Music titled Esta Plena. - Set Times are 7:30 PM & 9:30 PM - with an 11:30PM set added on Friday and Saturday.

“This young musician and composer is at once reestablishing the artistic, cultural, and social tradition of jazz while creating ...
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Miguel Zenon Quintet; Byron Vannoy’S Meridian at the Earshot Jazz Festival

Source: Michael Ricci
September 23, 2009

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Miguel Zenon Esta Plena Quintet @ The Jazz Showcase

Source: Two for the Show Media
September 14, 2009

Saxophonist/Composer Miguel Zenon will be bringing his Esta Plena Quintet to the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, Ill. from October 8th thru 11th, 2009 in celebration of his new Marsalis Music release “Esta Plena” “This young musician and composer is at once reestablishing the artistic, cultural, and social tradition of jazz while creating an entirely new jazz language for the 21st century.” -MacArthur Foundation,2008. Miguel Zenon Esta Plena Quintet Miguel Zenon, alto sax Luis Perdomo, piano Hans Glawischnig, bass Henry Cole, ...
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Miguel Zenon Home in Two Traditions: Jazz and the Sounds of Puerto Rico

Source: Michael Ricci
December 4, 2008

When the jazz saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenon visits his native Puerto Rico to see his mother and other relatives every year around Christmastime, he rarely hears any jazz.

Instead hes surrounded by plena, a century-old Afro-Caribbean musical tradition, a kind of movable street-corner folksong. Plena is made with three different-size panderos (like tambourines without the cymbals) and voices singing about island myths and scandals, cultural identity, political reality, love and plena itself. Its really common, he said in an ...
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