Author Archives: Mel Minter

Diane Moser’s ‘Birdsongs’ Takes Flight

Anton Denner, Ken Filiano, Diane Moser

A 2008 residency at the MacDowell Colony, an artist retreat, in New Hampshire put pianist/composer Diane Moser in touch with avian composers with whom she engaged in a musical give-and-take, responding on the piano to their birdsongs in back-and-forth improvisations that she recorded. In the evening, she’d transcribe these sessions, and over the years, she has performed these tunes in a wide variety of styles, from acoustic to electronic, solo piano to big band. Since 2013, she has been playing them in a trio setting with Anton Denner (flute, piccolo) and Ken Filiano (bass). Birdsongs, her latest release, features performances from this remarkably synched trio and on solo piano that carry the invigorating scent of the New England woodlands.

Continue reading →

Advocating Convergence: Arturo O’Farrill’s ‘Fandango at the Wall’

Issa Maloof, Rahim AlHaj, and Sourena Sefati
Sahba Motallebi and Arturo O’Farrill

Since 2008, Jorge Francisco Castillo, a musician and retired librarian, has presented the Fandango Fronterizo, a celebratory jam session that brings together son jarocho musicians on both sides of the border separating Tijuana and San Diego. The idea is that music creates community despite separation, and son jarocho, a folk music born in Veracruz with a revolutionary pedigree, offers the perfect vehicle. When pianist, composer, band leader, educator, and activist Arturo O’Farrill learned about this annual event, he felt it provided an elegant opportunity to bring together a variety of cultures to make a musical statement of global community in response to the divisive cultural and political currents abroad in the world today. Working with Castillo and his own longtime producer, GRAMMY-winning Kabir Sehgal, O’Farrill brought together his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra with son jarocho musicians, internationally renowned jazz artists, and musicians from marginalized countries at the 11th annual Fandango. The result is a cornucopia of vibrant musics energized by a common purpose. Continue reading →

New Releases from Gato Malo and Wild Humans

  • Gato Malo (Felix Peralta)
  • Wild Humans: Maren Hatch, Ryan Jarvis, Julian Wild, April Lisette

I’ve been writing about New Mexican singer/songwriters going on 15 years now, and I can tell you there’s no end of them in this place, and good ones, too, from all over the musical spectrum. In recent weeks, I’ve made the acquaintance of Lara Manzanares, whose terrific album Land Baby won Best Of at the 2018 NM Music Awards, and the soulful Isaac Aragon, who’s forthcoming single, scheduled for early 2019, is going to open up some ears. Meanwhile, two guys whose work I’ve enjoyed for a while, Gato Malo (aka Felix Peralta) and Julian Wild (aka Julian Singer-Corbin), frontman for Wild Humans, have recently released new work worthy of your ears. The two albums come at you from completely different musical points of the compass, but what they share is deep insight delivered with honest feeling.

Continue reading →

Vocalist Luciana Souza Brings ‘The Book of Longing’ to the Outpost: An Interview

Luciana Souza. Photo by Kim Fox.

Spare, transparent, and penetratingly beautiful, The Book of Longing, the latest release from Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza, transports the listener into the heart of 10 poems, four from Leonard Cohen’s book of the same name; one each from Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, and Christina Rossetti; and three from Souza herself. Souza, who composed the music, does not attempt to interpret the poems. Rather, with the help of the exceptionally sympathetic Chico Pinheiro on guitar, Scott Colley on bass, and producer Larry Klein, Souza’s husband and multiple GRAMMY winner, she creates a setting in which the words of the poets resonate freely.

On Wednesday, November 28, Souza, Pinheiro, and Colley will bring those songs and others to the Outpost. I had the opportunity to speak with her by phone a few weeks ago. The interview, lightly edited for brevity, is transcribed below. Continue reading →