Jog (Otá Records)
Omar Sosa
Released October 30, 2015
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k2Rpsf5Tu-TzH9bH3B3eAzz-BTBp38TFE
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/album/567v1VNoQRcB02TY77v8vT?si=pE4yTFN0QbaXggjSFGWKKg
About:
Seven-time GRAMMY-nominated Cuban composer and jazz pianist Omar Sosa has assembled a trio with award-winning German trumpet player, Joo Kraus, and folkloric, Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles.
The Trio debuted at Kunstflecken Festival north of Hamburg in 2014 and performed the following day for a live radio broadcast at Radio Bremen, resulting in the ‘JOG’ CD.
Joo Kraus has been part of Omar’s “Afri-Lectric Experience”, the sextet that recorded Omar’s celebrated Miles Davis ‘Kind of Blue’ tribute CD in 2012 entitled “EGGUN”. This recording received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Latin Jazz. Joo received a 2012 ECHO award in Germany for Best Trumpet Player.
Gustavo Ovalles plays an array of traditional Venezuelan percussion instruments, including quitiplas, culo ‘e puya, and maracas. Gustavo is featured on Omar’s 2003 CD, ‘Ayaguna’, which was recorded live at Motion Blue in Yokohama.
Omar’s Trio with Joo and Gustavo exemplify Omar’s philosophy of jazz as freedom. Its music is improvisation-based, with each player bringing expression of his musical roots to the collective experience. Omar and Joo both use various samplers and electronic effects during performances, and Kraus contributes occasional rap vocals in German and English.
Track Listing:
1. Moforibale (Joo Kraus / Omar Sosa) 04:13
2. Enchanted Breeze (Joo Kraus / Omar Sosa) 02:07
3. Echo Bay (Joo Kraus / Omar Sosa) 03:55
4. Muevete En D (Omar Sosa) 03:51
5. Wood Soul (Joo Kraus / Omar Sosa) 06:49
6. Recaredo (Omar Sosa) 06:36
7. Down the Alley (Hellmut Hattler / Joo Kraus / Omar Sosa) 07:00
8. Light in the Sky (Omar Sosa) 08:35
9. Iyawo (Omar Sosa) 03:42
10. JOG Mode (Joo Kraus / Omar Sosa) 03:58
11. Peace River (Joo Kraus / Omar Sosa) 02:21
Personnel:
Omar Sosa: piano, Motif ES8, Fender Rhodes, samplers, EFX, vocals, synthesizers
Joo Kraus: trumpet, vocals, flugelhorn
Gustavo Ovalles: quitiplas, culo’e puya, maracas, percussion
Recorded September 14, 2014 at “Kulturzentrum Schlachthof”, Bremen/Germany, by Klaus Schumann, except tracks 10 and 11 recorded April 12, 2014, at Aeron Studio, Tubingen, Germany, by Matthias Reusch
Mastered by Patrick Destandeau
Produced and Mixed by Joo Kraus, Omar Sosa, Patrick Destandeau
Photography by Jochen Mönch
Graphic Design: Tomas F. Presas
Review:
Pianist Omar Sosa introduces a new trio on JOG. Aside from himself on assorted acoustic and electric keyboards, the group also features German trumpeter, vocalist and flugelhorn player Joo Kraus and Venezuelan drummer Gustavo Ovalles, who contributes a battery of hand percussion including quitiplas (bamboo stalks) and culo’e puya (small Venezuelan congas). “Echo Bay” lives up to its title with trumpet notes from Kraus that are awash in reverberating dub reggae effects. The musical setting here is dark, blue and dreamy. Conversely, “Down The Alley” is a bright, playful tune that recalls the Latin infused r&b of the 1960s. Wha-wha effects on keys and trumpet dance around a syncopated synth bass line and Ovalles’ jumpy percussion work, while Kraus’s rap delivers a poetic warning of pending ecological disaster. “Muevete En D,” from Sosa’s Live À Fip album, gets a jaunty reinvention, with Sosa’s Bach-like right hand trills and Kraus’s mixed down asides on trumpet playing off of the subtle maraca rhythms of Ovalles. It’s a reminder of Sosa’s ability to fuse jazz, classical and Afro-Cuban impulses.
j. poet (DownBeat)
