Ontology (Sony Music)

Roxana Amed

Released April 9, 2021

AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2021

YouTube:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mYE1XHAD0Ufxv0b7KVvSnAkO8aHArc36g

Spotify:

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About:

Isolation, nostalgia, a sense of not belonging, and living in the in-between are themes that have long resided in Roxana Amed’s songs. The Argentinian singer/songwriter’s latest full-length, Ontology, released by Sony Music Latin, is the culmination of a six-year journey filled with similar ruminations, leading Amed to reaffirm a musical identity unrestrained by genre or geography. “I ended up finding the spot where I should stand to watch myself as an Argentine artist and as a North American artist,” Amed reflected from home in Miami. “That is what I found that was ontologically happening with this music. I was standing on the fusion, on the confluence of these two worlds. In that sense I think this album is the one that best describes me.” Born in Buenos Aires, Amed has been living stateside since 2013 and is acclaimed in her native country as one of the foremost jazz voices of our time, blending Argentine folk and rock with jazz, a distinction cemented by an eminent career comprised of six critically-acclaimed albums, a DVD, as well as countless performances, collaborations, and awards. Ontology, her seventh release, is a compendium of mostly original pieces created and performed during the last several years. Framed mainly within a quintet setting, Ontology features bandmates – Martin Bejerano on piano, Mark Small on saxophone, Edward Perez on acoustic bass, and Ludwig Afonso behind the trap set, as well as an assortment of other guest musicians as Rodolfo Zuñiga on drums, Lowell Ringel and Carlo de Rosa on acoustic bass, Tim Jago and Aaron Lebos on electric guitar -masterfully coalescing around the singer, as she leads with her rich and deeply-rooted vocal instrument. Produced by Amed, the album was recorded in Miami’s iconic The Hit Factory/Criteria Recording Studios over three sessions beginning in March 2019 through August 2020, in the midst of the global pandemic. “It was stressful,” Amed recalled. “That whole process was not really happening all together in the same room. It felt interrupted and distant.” Nonetheless, Ontology came together seamlessly – fourteen tracks fluidly crafted to swing and glide with Amed’s velvety vocals as the unifying force. Amed has mastered the art of laying no distinction bare in music. “My challenge was always trying to find a sound that could sound like jazz but in Spanish,” Amed said. “Where I could scat, but naturally. It was an exploration into both languages. I wanted them to live together in one album again.” On album opener “Tumbleweed,” Amed weaves a beguiling melody in English lyrics with deep, rich tones as she shades and contours Bejerano’s elegant piano and Smalls’ meandering sax. “Chacarera para la mano izquierda,” rooted in the Argentine folk sound that is the rural answer to tango, was co-written by Amed and Bejerano, who infuses a Latin jazz vamp on piano. “It was so powerful what he was doing with his left hand,” Amed recounted. “I said to him ‘That left hand, my God, that comes from another part of the world.’” Amed re-imagines Wayne Shorter’s “Virgo,” dressing the composition with her original lyrics, sets Miles Davis’ “Blue In Green” to lyrics penned by Cassandra Wilson, and reworks two early 20th century compositions by Alberto Ginastera – “Danza de la moza donosa” with her original lyrics. “This was the first time I was setting lyrics for music that was written for piano,” Amed said. “It breaks my heart every time I sing it.” Title track “Ontology” and the up-tempo “Milonga por la ausencia,” the last song written by Amed for the album, brim with Buenos Aires flair and urban sophistication. “Amor” broods and then soars in unbridled reverie with an exhilarating electric guitar injection courtesy of Aaron Lebos. “I wanted kind of a messy thing happening there.” The enveloping closer “Winter” delves inwardly as a barebones reflection on voice and piano, rounding out a collection of gems that solidifies Amed’s place as polyglot jazz vocalist and forward-looking bandleader.

Track Listing:

1. Tumbleweed (Roxana Amed / Mark Small) 06:51

2. …Para La Mano Izqueirda (Roxana Amed / Martin Bejerano) 04:28

3. Peaceful (Roxana Amed / Kendall Moore) 05:23

4. Virgo (Roxana Amed / Wayne Shorter) 05:31

5. Blue In Green (Sky and Sea) (Miles Davis / Cassandra Wilson) 05:49

6. Last Happy Hour (Roxana Amed / Martin Bejerano) 05:50

7. Milonga Por La Ausencia (Roxana Amed) 05:32

8. Ontology (Roxana Amed) 04:10

9. El El Regreso (Roxana Amed / Martin Bejerano) 05:45

10. Danza De La Moza Donosa (Roxana Amed / Alberto Ginastera) 04:54

11. Danza Del Viejo Boyero (Alberto Ginastera) 04:17

12. Goodbye Rose Street (Roxana Amed) 03:11

13. Amor (Roxana Amed / Martin Bejerano) 06:53

14. Winter (Roxana Amed) 04:10

Personnel:

Roxana Amed: vocals

Martin Bejerano: piano

Mark Small: saxofone

Edward Perez: acoustic bass (1, 2, 6, 9)

Lowell Ringel: acoustic bass (3, 5, 12)

Ludwig Alfonso: drums (1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 13)

Rodolfo Zuñiga: drums (3, 5, 11, 12),

Carlo De Rosa: electric bass, acoustic bass (7, 13)

Tim Jago: electric guitar (3, 5, 12)

Aaron Lebos: electric guitar (1, 13)

Recorded 2019 – 2020 at The Hit Factory / Criteria Studio

Produced by Roxana Amed 

Recorded and Mixed by Carlos Alvarez

Mastering: Paul Blakemore

Design: Pablo Vallone

Executive producer: Roxana Amed 

Review:

Argentine vocalist Roxana Amed further expands her globally cross-pollinated sound on 2021’s poetically expressive Ontology. A native of Buenos Aires, Amed has lived in Miami since relocating to the United States in 2013. Even prior to her move, she had already built a vibrant discography blending South American musical traditions with pop, rock, and harmonically nuanced post-bop jazz. With Ontology, she pushes her stylistically diverse approach to an even higher level, performing her own lyrical original songs alongside compositions by Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, and Alberto Ginastera. Helping her achieve her lush, deeply engaging sound is her ensemble featuring saxophonist Mark Small, pianist Martin Bejerano, bassist Edward Perez, and drummer Ludwig Alfonso. Also adding flavor are a handful of guest collaborators, including guitarists Tim Jago and Aaron Lebos, drummer Rodolfo Zuniga, and bassists Lowell Ringel and Carlo De Rosa. There’s a sculptural quality to much of Amed’s music that’s especially evident on tracks like “Peaceful,” which she sings in languorous harmony with saxophonist Small. Even when she’s singing largely on her own with minimal rubato accompaniment, as on her chamber jazz rendition of Shorter’s impressionistic “Virgo,” Amed’s voice is transfixing, like a classical cellist in meditative rapture. It’s an artful sound, bringing to mind the work of British singer Norma Winstone as well as the equally progressive recordings of guitarist Pat Metheny. While Amed sings in both English and Spanish, she often takes a more instrumental approach, eschewing lyrics on the vibrant bop-meets-tango “Milonga Por La Auscencia” and diving headlong into the propulsive Latin jazz rhythms of Ginestera’s “Danza del Viejo Boyero.” Listening to Ontology is a deeply textured, almost metaphysical experience as Amed deftly pulls together the distinct creative and cultural threads that make up the colorful weft of her artistic identity.

Matt Collar (AllMusic)