All press News

Publication: Rhapsody.Com
Date: January 11, 2012

Miguel Zenón’s Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook earned the #4 spot for 2011’s jazz Record of the Year  in Rhapsody’s first annual Critics’ Poll, which included votes from over 120 national writers. Alma Adentro also topped the list as the Best Latin Album. 

For a full list of the winners and commentary regarding this year’s poll, please visit the Rhapsody.com blog. Read more »

Publication: Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches
Author: Hank Shteamer
Date: January 9, 2012

“If you give a soloist an open solo for thirty seconds, he plays like he’s coming from the piece that you wrote. Then he says, ‘What the hell was that piece I was playing from?’ And the next thirty seconds is, ‘Oh, I guess I’ll play what I learned last night.’ And bang! Minute two is whoever he likes. Which is probably Coltrane.”—Bob Brookmeyer (RIP), quoted in Ben Ratliff’s The Jazz Ear

I think about this quote a lot when I’m hearing jazz live. Often it’s because I’m thinking how much Brookmeyer’s cautionary anecdote applies to the situation at hand. Last night, thankfully, this was not the case.

The show was Branford Marsalis’s “A Duo of Duos” at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room (TONY preview here), during which he dueted first with Joey Calderazzo—his partner on 2011’s Songs of Mirth and Melancholy, over which I’ve already gushed extensively—and second with Harry Connick Jr., the latter of whom didn’t sing. So these were pure saxophone/piano duos, with Marsalis switching between tenor and soprano. Read more »

Publication: New York Times
Date: December 28, 2011

Listen to this week’s New York Times Popcast for a discussion on 2011’s best in jazz. Miguel Zenón’s latest album, Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook is featured. Direct link here.