Latina (Sunnyside Records)
Cristina Pato Quartet
Released May 12, 2015
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lYAWyAJSwzKXdD2Rp8keFoIgJsyMsQ9es
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4tDAl3GgLuJw8gDYkuJQd4?si=hRMUX0e8RDS-FCe-y8-EDA
About:
It is incredible to think of how many of the
world’s cultures are linked. From the origins of the Latin languages in Europe
to the music of Afro-Spanish South America, the links between the two
continents are diverse and deep.
The tremendous Galician bagpiper and pianist Cristina Pato decided to further
explore one of these chains of cultural adaptation, specifically through the
evolution of six beat rhythmic patterns originating in the Latin music of
Europe and migrating to South America. Her new recording – Latina – provides a
diverse program of musical styles performed by an expert group of musicians
fluent in jazz and folkloric music.
Originally hailing from the northwestern province of Galicia in Spain, Pato has
become something of a sensation since arriving in the United States. She has
performed regularly with her own ensemble and released a recording (Migrations,
2012). Pato has become a member of Yo Yo Ma’s celebrated Silk Road Ensemble,
which has toured the world.
The concept for Pato’s Latina stemmed from her fascination with the word and
what it has come to mean. Although originally referring to a group
resident in the Italian peninsula, the term Latinos/Latinas is now generally
used to refer to individuals whose ancestry stems from Spanish origins. In the
same way that Latin based languages have spread widely, the musical elements of
Latin cultures have been propagated across continents.
Through her musical investigations, Pato discovered the recurrent use of a 6/8
pattern (six beats of quarter notes in a waltz-like feel) from the tarantellas
of Italy all the way to the Afro-Peruvian style of landó on the Pacific coast
of South America. For Pato, finding the connections between these diverse
cultures has helped her to find her own more positive meaning to a term by
which she found herself constantly defined, Latina.
For Latina, Pato commissioned her friend and bassist Edward Perez to write
music that would frame the journey of a specific rhythm with roots in Italy and
Spain across the Atlantic where it ingrained itself in a multitude of musical
cultures, including Peru and Colombia. Perez had lived in Peru for a time to
study Afro-Peruvian music and introduced Pato to some of the styles, which
immediately reminded her of the muiñeira, a Galician dance form in 6/8.
To perform The Suite and the two additional compositions presented on Latina,
Pato enlisted the expert Galician accordion player Victor Prieto, bassist and
composer Edward Perez and the phenomenal Eric Doob on drums.
The Latina 6/8 Suite is comprised of six pieces, each representing a different
style using the 6/8 rhythms that migrated from Europe to the Americas. The
vibrant first piece “Fandango: Prueba de Fuego” is named for the Spanish dance
form that traversed the Atlantic ; this is followed by “Landó: María Landó,” a
wonderful example of the Afro-Peruvian form written by poet César Calve and
legendary singer Chabuca Granda. The flamenco influenced “Tanguillo: The High
Seas” is a rousing, stately piece that features Pato on piano.
The Suite continues with a piece in Venezuelan form, “Joropo-Festejo: Muiñera
de Chantada,” a party song that utilizes the Venezuelan rhythm over the
Galician. The next piece “Currulao: Currulao de Crisis” is an example of a
Colombian criolla rhythm, usually arranged for marimba, voice and drums, with
Pato’s expert piano playing substituting for marimba. The Suite concludes with
“Tarantella-Muiñeira: Epilogue” which starts with the Italian rhythm, and
quickly morphs into the exuberant Galician folk tune.
The program continues with fellow bagpiper and Nuevo tango composer Emilio
Solla’s “Llegará, llegará, llegará,” which expressively blends Pato’s Galician
folkloric style with the Argentine tango. Victor Prieto’s “Let’s Fiesta”
finishes the album with a Brazilian backbeat.
Cristina Pato’s fascinating exploration of the different rhythms that have
migrated throughout the world via populations with Latin roots has birthed a
wonderful collection of music on Latina. The diversity of sound and texture
that can be generated from the same time signature (here a simple 6/8) is an
intriguing parallel to the intricacies of the seemingly simple label
Latina.
Track Listing:
1. The Latina 6/8 Suite: Fandango: Prueba de Fuego (Edward Perez) 04:26
2. The Latina 6/8 Suite: Landó: María Landó (Cesar Calvo / Chabuca Granda) 04:06
3. The Latina 6/8 Suite: Tanguillo: The High Seas (Edward Perez) 04:30
4. The Latina 6/8 Suite: Joropo-Festejo: Muíneira de Chantada 02:36
5. The Latina 6/8 Suite: Currulao: Currulao de Crisis (Edward Perez) 03:49
6. The Latina 6/8 Suite: Tarantella-Muiñeira: Epilogue 01:53
7. Llegará. Llegará. Llegará (Emilio Solla) 07:51
8. Let’s Festa (Victor Prieto9 04:45
9. Tarantella-Muiñeira [Without Narration] 01:54
Personnel:
Cristina Pato: gaita, piano, voice
Edward Perez: double bass
Eric Doob: drums
Victor Prieto: accordion
Recorded January, 2015, at Spin Recording Studios, New York, NY
Engineer: Nik Chinboukas
Assistant Engineer: Yesimar Gomez
Mixing: Brian Montgomery
Mastering: Mike Marciano
Photography: Erin Baiano
Executive Producer: Cristina Pato
Artistic
Producers: Emilio Solla and Cristina Pato
Mecenas: Jody and John Arnhold
“The Latina 6/8 Suite” is an idea conceived and commissioned by Cristina Pato
Review:
On the wilder side of things, the Cristina Pato Quartet’s Latina is built around explosive 6/8 rhythms, and Pato plays her Galician bagpipes (called gaita) with bold authority. Her band—bassist Edward Perez, drummer Eric Doob and accordionist Victor Prieto—kicks up a charging racket behind her. But Pato’s virtuoso playing is the clear star of the show. The gaita typically includes a bass drone, but she often eschews it in favor of greater harmonic freedom, finding a surprisingly violin-like tone. Her melodic lines swoop and flutter, and her command of the instrument’s dynamic range is superb; her playing on “Llegará, Llegará, Llegará” is ferocious, while on “Landó: Maria Landó,” she concludes a solo with a gentle legato trail-off. The gaita may never take its place alongside the saxophone as a common jazz lead, but Latina is revelatory nonetheless.
Joe Tangari (DownBeat)
