Carrera Quinta: Big Band

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Music in North America has long been enriched by the rhythmic content from traditional South American song and dance forms. The biggest influences come from Brasil and Cuba, but as musicians dig deeper into other Latin American traditions, the musical topography of other countries augments popular music in many splendoured ways. The gorgeous textures of Colombian music is often heard in contemporary popular styles – notably Jazz – and the latest of these cultural collisions comes in the form of a big band venture by Carrera Quinta.

The potent voices of the band’s two composers, guitarist Javier Pérez Sandoval and pianist Francy Montalvo are in full force on this celebrated recording. The album, of course, features several other extremely talented Colombian musicians, who solo throughout the performance with succinct and penetrating expressivity.

Carrera Quinta – Big Band is a 2016 Latin Grammy Awards Nominee in the Best Latin Jazz Album Category

Both Javier Pérez Sandoval and Francy Sandoval pay homage to their rich Colombian heritage as well as to past masters in the seven compositions featured here. Arrangements, brought to life by five saxophones, four trumpets and four trombones rivet attention through a varied juxtaposition of poetic musings and technical colorations via extraordinary use of traditional Colombian dance forms. Soloists execute magical flights and enter into dramatic soundscapes with the main protagonists – the guitar and piano. Francy Montalvo’s ‘Elegía de un sentimiento’ and Javier Pérez Sandoval’s ‘Little Step’ and ‘Modal Step’ are works of gregarious splendour, played to the fierce hilt by musicians well-schooled in the secrets of their instruments.

In everything, from end to end on this album the musicians of Carrera Quinta combine readings of lustrous lyricism with dramatic panache – Pedro Acosta’s drum solo on ‘El intensos’ is a fine example – that illuminates the extremes of Javier Pérez Sandoval’s music. Both the guitarist and Francy Montalvo make trenchant contributions as Montalvo anchors hers delightfully at the keyboard.

Track List – Take a Deep Breath; No voy a quedarme; Little Step; Elegía de un sentimiento; Modal Step; Rio Cali; El intensos.

Personnel – Javier Pérez Sandoval: electric guitar, compositions, arrangements; Francy Montalvo: piano, compositions; Ricardo Jaramillo: direction; Pedro Acosta: drums; Daniel Montoya: electric bass; Dario Montoya: flute; Cesar Medina: alto and soprano saxophones; Rafael Sandoval: alto saxophone; William Rojas: tenor saxophone; Julio Panadero: tenor saxophone; Adalber Gaviria: baritone saxophone; Carlos Acosta: trumpet; Fernando Peña: trumpet; Pavel Zuzaeta: trumpet; Orlando Barreda Batanga: trumpet; Cristhian Hernandez: trombone; Diego Gómez: trombone; Andrés Guzmán: trombone; Mauricio Patiño: trombone.

Released – 2016
Label – Carrera Quinta
Runtime – 41:10