Refugee (Zoho Music)
Héctor Martignon
Released May 8, 2007
Grammy Nominee for Best Latin Jazz Album 2008
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_msFLGGELs_2lU6mFaSHU6QWBrJVnPWMZw
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1RdAZAfPzx2DphQeW2w9Hx?si=x8q5Dy3mTNq4vRtQBVpyJA
About:
Few things are
more rewarding for me as a musician than to hear my music performed by some of
the greatest jazz instrumentalists in the world. I have been lucky to have
several of them play regularly in my band. Most of the tunes on Refugee, my
third CD but first on the ZOHO label, were composed and arranged with one or
more of the featured performers in mind. We recorded two tunes each in four
separate sessions. There was different personnel in each session, each
representing four different moments in the continuing evolution of my band
Foreign Affair.
For instance, I wrote Eddie’s Ready thinking about the great 1970s Bill Evans
Trio recordings that I devoured (and still do) in the early stages of my
development as a musician. The unmistakable sound of bassist Eddie Gomez was
just as appealing to my ears as was Bill Evans’ piano. Eddie made my tune his
own, enveloping it with his unmistakable sound and imagination.
For the other tune with Eddie, Beauty Sleep, I had a “cutting
contest” in mind; those nights in Harlem in the early 1930s when pianists
like James P. Johnson and his protege Fats Waller would challenge each other
until ‘the wee hours’ of the morning…
The title tune Refugee is my humble tribute to the millions of people forgotten
by the world after they left their homes and their lives behind because of war,
famine or natural disaster. I could only write the tune with the unsurpassable
sound and art of Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona in mind. I consider myself
lucky for having had him in my band for over a year and a half. My fellow
Colombian, percussion prodigy Samuel Torres, accurately interpreted the spirit
of the tune, adding several takes of African Djembe as well as multiple
Afro-cuban Conga rhythms, including an incredible 3/2 Cumbia!
I called on my idol and teacher Kenny Barron to help me recreate a similar
magic in this track. No one better than Jeff “Tain “ Watts to interact on the
drums with musicians of such caliber and trajectory. Jeff has played quite a
few gigs with me and knows most of my material, giving it his unique touch and
spirit. My old friend Sammy Figueroa, also one of my favorite percussionists,
added the perfect touch, performing an exquisite swinging low conga beat to the
straight-ahead sections the late master Ray Barretto would have happily
approved of.
When I first went to the island of Tahiti, as a guest at the Pacific Rim Music
Festival, the stunningly beautiful setting inspired me to add lyrics to
Observatorio, a tune I wrote for my wife Amparo. I was audacious enough to perform
and sing the tune in what I consider my official debut as a “singer”. Back in
New York I added the vocals to an instrumental version I had already recorded.
Roberto Quintero’s percussion is superb, adding to the sub-tropical magic the
tune was dreamed up in.
Observatorio is also featured in Samuel Torres’ first CD, “Skin Tones”, with
English lyrics written and performed by Julie Dollison, who later made it the
title tune of her own debut album, “Observatory’. At the time of this session,
Matt Garrison’s unequivocal bass provided the foundation of the band’s sound.
His solos on Observatorio and the other tune of this session, You Won’t Forget
Me, are exquisite ad hoc compositions in their own right!
In these first four tunes, mentioned so far the common thread is the
unmistakable guitar of my friend and longtime band member Mark Whitfield,
adding incredible sweetness and virtuosity, besides a solid, swinging rhythmic
foundation. I chose the ballad You Won’t Forget Me, one of two non-original
cover songs on this album, with Mark’s unforgettable musicianship and sound in
mind. Cuban drum-magician Dafnis Prieto joins Mark, Matt and Roberto in a fine
filigree of sounds and colors, providing a subtle and intricate rhythmic
infrastructure.
During sound
checks and to warm up, we always played that beautiful G minor blues by the
late Don Grolnick, Nothing Personal. Easy and powerful, the tune is a perfect
vehicle to enjoy Richard’s virtuosity. Willard Dyson’s drumming in both tunes
of this session is absolutely remarkable. His solo in the polyrhythmical
Refugee is simply put mind-boggling! Edgardo Miranda fully proves that he is
arguably the best Latin Jazz guitarist, though barely known outside the Latin
Jazz scene.
Edgardo’s playing is also masterful in the incomparable late-night session
featuring one of the first editions of Foreign Affair. This all-latin “dream
team” lived up to any and all expectations and recorded those two tunes as if
we were on one of our habitual gigs in that most exquisite and intimate of New
York Jazz Clubs, the Zinc Bar. 99 MacDougal is a perfect vehicle to showcase
Horacio “Negro” Hernandez’ incredible sensitivity, complemented, not eclipsed,
by his almost pyrotechnical virtuosity. In Tomorrow’s Past (similar to Refugée
in its rhythmical intricacies and originally conceived as a 3/2 ballad) Horacio
and bass virtuoso John Benitez, with Samuel on board, coalesce into the most
infernal rhythm machine imaginable. John’s solo on 99 MacDougal takes us on a
cruise through the different mystical lands that make up his musical world.
Although I play the acoustic and electric pianos in all the tunes -except the
electric on Beauty Sleep which is Kenny Barron- and sing the vocals on one
track, I prefer the role I almost instinctively adopted, paraphrasing Auguste
Rodin: provide boulders of marble of distinctive shapes and sizes to a group of
sculptors and then collectively carve out the most beautiful shapes imprisoned
inside those rocks.
Hector Martignon
Track Listing:
1. Refugee 8:24
2. 99 Macdougal 6:42
3. Observatory 7:14
4. Beauty Sleep 4:54
5. Eddie’s Ready 5:39
6. Tomorrow’s Past 6:06
7. You Won’t Forget Me 5:58
8. Nothing Personal 9:30
Personnel:
Hector Marthignon: piano, vocals (3)
Kenny Barron: electric piano (4)
Edgardo Miranda: guitar (1, 2, 6, 8)
Mark Whitfield: guitar (3, 4, 5, 7)
Justin Quinn: guitar (1, 8)
Richard Bona: bass (1, 8)
John Benitez: bass (2, 6)
Matt Garrison: bass (3, 7)
Eddie Gomez: bass (4, 5)
Willard Dyson: drums (1, 8)
Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez: drums (2, 6)
Dafnis Prieto: drums (3, 7)
Jeff “Tain” Watts: drums (4, 5)
Samuel Torres: percussion (1, 2, 6, 8)
Sammy Figueroa: percussion (4, 5)
Roberto Quintero: percussion (3)
Recorded at Environmental Recording Sanctuary, New York, by Cesar Rivera (1, 8) and at Systems 2, Brooklyn, NY, by Mike and Joe Marciano (2, 3, 4, 5, 7)
Producer: Hector Martignon
Executive Producers: Joachim “Jochen” Becker and Hector Martignon
Mixed by Hoover Lee (1, 2, 6, 8) and Ken Freeman (3, 4, 5, 7)
Mastered by Hoover Lee
Photography: Herman Baron Package design: 3 and Co.
Review:
Like
the great Latin jazz pianists Eddie Palmieri and Hilton Ruiz, Hector Martignon
is one hot player (un pianist
caliente). The musician, composer, and band leader has performed
with Celia Cruz and Ray Barretto, and has created a body of work which includes
orchestral music, jingles, and other formats. On Refugee, his third release
as a leader, he assembles an impressive and huge list of top musicians, with
new material recorded with four groups on four different sessions. The tunes
were composed specifically for each group, the idea incubated from his 1998
band Foreign Affair.
Guitarist Mark Whitfield, bassist Richard Bona,
drummer Dafnis Prieto and percussionist Roberto Quintero are just a few of the
talented names found on the recording. Martignon’s appreciation of each
musician is channeled into sterling compositions, making good use of their
skills and resulting in more than just an entertaining Latin jazz recording.
Musical borders are touched on the Afro-Cuban
percussion rhythms of “Refugee and “Observatory, which also features
Martignon’s vocals—dedicated to his wife and inspired by the beauty of
Tahiti. To go along with varied musical terrains, Martignon seems comfortable
in a variety of settings be they ballads, swingers, or delivering some killer
ragtime stride on “Beauty Sleep, where he trades ivory keys with Kenny
Barron’s electric piano and Mark Whitfield’s hollow-body guitar.
This recording boasts memorable performances from many musicians and in particular the bass players. Richard Bona’s fretless work on the title, John Benitez’s reverberating strings on “99 MacDougal and Matt Garrison’s fascinating solo on “You Won’t Forget Me are just a few of the highlights. Though this is not your classic clave-driven Latin recording, the rhythm and percussionist sections are superb. Good music and some collective inspiration all make this a noteworthy release.
Mark F. Turner (All About Jazz)
