The Prophet (Fonarte Latino)
Esteban Herrera Quintet
Released July 29, 2021
Juno Award Nominee Group Jazz Album of the Year 2022
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m4T1q-HzQIqAZ0XXiznTRc2MZoRyn7QMw
Spotify:
About:
Esteban Herrera is a pianist, composer, arranger, producer and music director originally from Mexico, living in Canada. He was born in Mexico City in 1979 and began his musical formation very young. He studied a Bachelor’s degree in jazz music performance and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences. He has 27 years of professional experience. He has performed, recorded and toured with several artists in many venues all around Mexico, USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Latin America. His music is an original approach to contemporary world jazz with Latin heritage, exploring odd meters and complex rhythms, letting the improvisation to lead each live session and recording. He writes the music and lyrics, arranges, plays the piano, produces, directs and designs the covers of his albums. He has released 11 albums as a leader so far, all available in the main internet networks of music streaming and purchasing sites. He has received the ArtShare 2021 Grant (Calgary Arts Development), the Individual Micro Grant 2021 (Alberta Music), the Individual Artist Grant 2021 (Calgary Arts Development) and the AFA Music Individual Project Grant 2022 (Alberta Foundation for the Arts). He has been nominated for the JUNOs 2022 in the category of Jazz Album of the Year (Group) with the album THE PROPHET by the Esteban Herrera Quintet
11 original instrumental songs composed by Esteban Herrera. The concept is contemporary latin jazz quintet. With the support of the ArtShare 2021 grant from Calgary Arts Development, Esteban Herrera produced this album.
Track Listing:
1. Soledad 10:15
2. White Desert 09:11
3. The Prophet 10:47
4. The Poet 09:08
5. Luz de Día 07:39
6. Ayer 07:52
7. Death 08:53
8. October Rain 07:24
9. Pink Elephant 08:26
10. The Exorcist 09:58
11. The Teacher 08:42
Personnel:
Esteban Herrera: piano
Mark DeJong: saxophone
Luis Tovar: percussion
Daniel Nava: bass
Andre Wickenheiser: trumpet
Review:
On Boxing Day 2020, Fernando Clavijo passed away in Mexico. His nephew, Esteban Herrera, says the cause of death was likely COVID-19, but he isn’t certain.
But he says his uncle, who was a pediatrician, was a father figure to him. He was the first person who inspired Herrera, now a jazz composer and pianist living in Calgary, to play music. His nickname was “The Prophet,” or “El Profeta,” not because he could tell the future, of course, but as a nod to his general wisdom, philosophical leanings and standing among family and peers.
“When I got the notice in the morning of Dec. 26, I was in shock because we are so far away,” Herrera says. “So I started composing a song called The Prophet. I went to my piano and I started playing and composing and trying to release all of these feelings that I had. I started around 9 a.m. and I finished it around 5 p.m. and I uploaded it to my YouTube channel.”
The beautiful, flowing 11-minute composition brought the musician a measure of peace – “It was like something magic,” he says – and became the first spark for 2021’s The Prophet and its centrepiece. While it’s the eighth album Herrera has released since 2013, it’s the first official release by the Esteban Herrera Quintet and the first of his to receive a Juno nomination for Best Jazz Album. Herrera received the 2021 ArtShare Grant from Calgary Arts Development, his first Canadian grant, and spent his COVID downtown time composing material that would later make it onto The Prophet. In between lockdowns, Herrera would play the odd gig. It had him connecting with two of the city’s top jazz players, saxophonist Mark DeJong and trumpet player Andre Wickenheiser, at a speakeasy-style Beltline jazz and cocktail club called Betty Lou’s Library. They were the first to be enlisted. Later, he reconnected with percussionist Luis Tovar and bassist Daniel Nava, long-term Latin-jazz collaborators in the city who had backed Herrera on his 2019 album Mil Veces Mas.
The Esteban Herrera Quintet was born. But, in the finest jazz tradition, the five musicians rehearsed the new material only once before heading to OCL Studios outside of Calgary.
“It was not even a whole rehearsal,” Herrera says. “I love that about jazz and about these guys. It was one week before we went into the studio. I said ‘This is what I have in mind.’ So they were there, they were really focused. We did it and were like ‘Let’s stop right now. This is gold so let’s wait for the studio.’ ”
The Prophet became one of those lightning-in-a-bottle projects that perfectly captures moments of perceptive and inventive interplay between five musicians at the top of their games, producing numbers such as the delicate White Desert, mournful October Rain and joyful Luz de Dia. Most of the tracks were recorded live-off-the-floor over a week-long period in one or two takes. The only overdubs came from Tovar, who layered his percussion parts to produce complex Latin rhythms.
“If you hear the music, you can imagine 20 percussionists,” says Herrera. “But it’s only him.”
Eric Volmers (Calgary Herald)
