Category Archives: Previews

NM Jazz Fest Honors John Trentacosta

John Trentacosta. Photo by Paul Slaughter.

John Trentacosta. Photo by Paul Slaughter.

Several High-Profile Friends Join the Drummer in Concert This Week

Since moving from New York City to Santa Fe back in 1992, John Trentacosta has made it his business to invigorate the jazz community in northern New Mexico, and he plays numerous roles to accomplish that: drummer, band leader, producer, educator, and radio DJ. This
Thursday at the Outpost, the New Mexico Jazz Festival honors his contributions by presenting him in concert. He’ll be joined by several friends who are gathering from across the country and within New Mexico to celebrate Trentacosta’s commitment and to play with one of the
swingingest drummers on the scene. They include vocalist Giacomo Gates, flutist Ali Ryerson, trumpeter Michael Morreale, reedman Arlen Asher, pianist Bob Fox, and bassist Earl Sauls.

“It’s a tradition of the festival to honor some major figure in the New Mexico jazz scene,” says festival codirector Tom Guralnick. As bandleader of Straight Up—“one of the standout groups in New Mexico jazz,” says Guralnick—as producer of several series over the years in a variety of venues, from Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill to the Museum Café, as a key figure in the formation of the Santa Fe Music Collective, Trentacosta has had a major impact. Continue reading →

Vinicius Cantuária Celebrates Jobim and Opens the NM Jazz Fest

digipak 4pVinicius Cantuária, Vinicius canta Antonio Carlos Jobim (Sunnyside Records)
A Review

The New Mexico Jazz Festival gets up and
running this week with a “new trend”—or as it is more familiarly known, bossa nova—in the person of guitarist, composer, percussionist, and vocalist Vinicius Cantuária. Cantuária, who moved from his native Brazil to New York City in the ’90s, made a name for himself in the neo–Brazilian music world and in NYC’s Downtown scene, itself noted for new trends. On this recording, Cantuária hews close to the classic style, with subtle jazz shadings, and makes Jobim the star of the show. Continue reading →

Juneteenth Concert Spotlights Albuquerque’s African-American Talent

Building Community and Preserving History, One Celebration at a Time

Cathryn McGill
Chloe Nixon
Gabrielle Jackson

The African-American community in Albuquerque traces its history back to the founding of the villa in 1706, and people of African or mixed African descent have been present in New Mexico at least as far back as the Spanish explorations of the early 1500s, if not well before. The African roots are deep, and the African-American community in Albuquerque today brims with musical talent.

For vocalist/songwriter/producer Cathryn McGill, Juneteenth, the oldest celebration in the
United States commemorating the end of slavery, presents an excellent opportunity to focus the city’s attention on the contributions of African-Americans to the musical heritage of both the country and the state. As curator of the New Mexico Jazz Workshop’s Juneteenth Freedom Concert: Whole Lot of Rhythm Goin’ Down, A Musical History from Justice to Jazz and Freedom to Funk, she’s conceived an evening that will bring the African-American musical community
together, entertain the community at large, and remind us all of our shared history. Continue reading →

Tim Berne’s Snakeoil: A Sure Remedy for the Everyday Blues

Tim Berne's SnakeoilIf necessity is the mother of invention, then desperation must be the mother of reinvention, judging from Tim Berne’s story of his introduction to the saxophone. The intrepid alto
saxophonist and composer didn’t touch the instrument until he was in college, and although he was a huge music fan, the only thing he’d played before that, he confesses, was “a little
basketball.”

“I couldn’t imagine being a normal person, having a job, so I was kind of desperate to find
something that wasn’t quite the norm,” he says. “So by accident, I got a saxophone for a
hundred bucks.”

Nice accident. Four decades later, with an immediately recognizable sound on his horn and an impressive body of work to his credit, it’s hard to imagine how Berne could ever have been
anything but the groundbreaking musician he is. This Thursday, he’ll bring his Snakeoil band, featuring Oscar Noriega (clarinets), Matt Mitchell (piano), and Ches Smith (percussion), to GiG and the Outpost, to celebrate the release of their third album on the ECM label, You’ve Been Watching Me.

Continue reading →

Bébé La La Finds Their Balance on High Wire

Bébé La La: Maryse Lapierre and Alicia Ultan.

Bébé La La: Maryse Lapierre and Alicia Ultan.

The French-Canadian idiom “bébé la la” refers to foolish behavior, but the singing/songwriting duo that call themselves Bébé La La—Maryse Lapierre (vocals, accordion, harmonium) and
Alicia Ultan (vocals, guitar, viola) are anything but. Fun, high-spirited, and occasionally giggly for sure, but never foolish, as their debut album, High Wire, clearly demonstrates.

Beautifully produced by John Wall and Bébé La La, and recorded and engineered by Wall at his Wall of Sound Studio, the tunes on High Wire face down a variety of difficult situations—from
income inequality on the political front to trying love affairs on the personal front—on the strength of mesmeric harmonies and a spunky equilibrium. Bébé La La will be celebrating the release of High Wire with a performance this Saturday at Las Amapolas Event Center. Continue reading →