“Miguel Zenón, this young musician and composer, is simultaneously re-establishing the artistic, cultural, and social tradition of jazz while creating an entirely new jazz language for the 21st century.”
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenón has released seventeen recordings as a leader, including his most recent, the Grammy-nominated Golden City (2024), and the Grammy-winning album El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 2 (2023).
He has collaborated with luminaries such as The SFJAZZ Collective, Charlie Haden, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, David Sánchez, Danilo Pérez, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, Kurt Elling, Joey Calderazzo, Steve Coleman, Ray Barreto, Andy Montañez, Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band, The Mingus Big Band, and Bobby Hutcherson.
Zenón is a Grammy Award winner, a Guggenheim Fellow, a MacArthur Fellow, and a recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award.
He also holds an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón.
Widely considered one of the most innovative and influential saxophonists and composers of his generation, he has also developed a unique voice as a conceptualist, focusing his efforts on perfecting an excellent blend of jazz and its many musical influences.
Zenón has released numerous albums as a bandleader and has appeared on over 100 recordings as a sideman.
Música de las Américas: A Masterpiece
With Música de las Américas, Puerto Rican saxophonist Miguel Zenón has created his finest album to date since his professional debut twenty-two years ago.
On this album, Zenón is accompanied by the same combo he has worked with on his recent projects, notably Venezuelan pianist Luis Perdomo, with the addition of some high-caliber percussion reinforcements from his native Puerto Rico.
Música de las Américas presents a very appealing balance across its eight tracks, weaving classic Latin jazz with more modern jazz forms, venturing into the turbulent waters of free jazz when necessary (as heard in ‘Venas Abiertas’), and incorporating traditional music from his homeland.
Zenón’s compositions aim to reflect the dynamism and complexity of indigenous American cultures (‘Taínos y Caribes,’ which opens the album), as well as their encounters with Europeans and the resulting historical implications, exemplified by tracks like ‘Imperios.’
As Miguel Zenón himself has stated, “the music on the new album is inspired by the history of the American continent, not only before European colonization but also by what has happened since.”
Música de las Américas serves as a kind of manifesto for Zenón’s concept of America as a continent.
This new musical offering from the alto saxophonist, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1976, was conceived during the pandemic (does anyone remember that there was a pandemic in 2020 and 2021 originating in the People’s Republic of China that caused thousands of deaths?). The book ‘Venas Abiertas’ by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, who passed away in 2015 and was a prominent figure of the Latin American left, played a significant role in its development.
Zenón has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The Chicago Tribune. He also topped the Jazz Artist of the Year and Alto Saxophonist of the Year categories in the 2014 JazzTimes Critics’ Poll and was selected as Alto Saxophonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020 (when he was also recognized as Arranger of the Year). In 2023, he was recognized by the same organization as Composer of the Year.
As a composer, he has received commissions from SFJAZZ, NYO Jazz, The New York State Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America, Logan Center for The Arts, The Hyde Park Jazz Festival, The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, MIT, Spektral Quartet, Miller Theater, The Hewlett Foundation, Peak Performances, PRISM Quartet, and many of his colleagues. Zenón has given hundreds of lectures and masterclasses at institutions worldwide and is a faculty member of MIT’s Music and Theater Arts Department, as well as the current Visiting Scholar for the Jazz Harmony and Composition Department at Berklee College of Music.
Ultimately, Música de Las Américas is the product of Zenón’s intellectual curiosity to learn more about the history of America (the continent) and translate that history into music (distritojazz).
Miguel Zenón – Música De Las Américas (2022)
Tracks:
- Tainos y Caribes
- Navegando (Las Estrellas Nos Guían)
- Opresión y Revolución
- Imperios
- Venas Abiertas
- Bámbula
- América, El Continente
- Antillano
Musicians:
- Miguel Zenón (Alto Saxophone)
- Luis Perdomo (Piano)
- Hans Glawischnig (Bass)
- Henry Cole (Drums)
Guest Musicians:
- Los Pleneros de La Cresta (Emil Martinez, Edwin “Wechin” Aviles, Joshuan Ocasio, Joseph Ocasio, and Jeyluix Ocasio) (Panderos, percussion, and vocals on #2)
- Paoli Mejías (Percussion #3)
- Víctor Emmanuelli (Barril de bomba #6)
- Daniel Díaz (Congas #8)
Recorded at Big Orange Sheep, Brooklyn, New York, March 21-22, 2022.
Zenón lives in New York City with his wife, Elga, and their daughter.
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