Internal Melodies (Main Door Music)
Miguel Zenón / Dan Tepfer
Released November 10, 2023
DownBeat Five-Star Review
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About:
Pianist Dan Tepfer (“a deeply rational improviser drawn to the unknown” — The New York Times) and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón (MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellow, multiple GRAMMY nominee) are two of the most lauded and influential jazz composers and conceptualists of our time. When they unite in the intimate, crystal-clear setting of the piano and saxophone duo, the result simply must be heard. And now it can be: Internal Melodies, the recording debut of this stellar duo, features compositions by both Tepfer and Zenón, including three by the saxophonist — “La Libertad,” “Centro de Gravedad,” “La Izquierda Latino-Americana” — that appear here for the first time on record. These kindred spirits also offer a swinging take of Lennie Tristano’s “317 East 32nd Street” and an entrancing, grooving treatment of György Ligeti’s formidable “Fanfares” (Étude 4, Book 1).
“There’s a clarity in Miguel’s writing that I deeply admire,” Tepfer says. “It’s totally unformulaic, yet the structures work in a deeply satisfying way. There’s a narrative consideration to his writing, and a lot of complex stuff in the piano parts to sink your teeth into. It’s grounded in this Afro-Latin rhythmic language that I wasn’t really exposed to while growing up and learning to play jazz. Now, having travelled to Cuba several times to study and play, I find doing justice to those rhythmic traditions a really interesting and fun challenge.”
“It’s been almost 10 years of us playing duo,” Zenón marvels, recounting their shared experience with bassist/bandleader Alexis Cuadrado and their sporadic but highly fulfilling duo engagements at Mezzrow, Stanford Live, Ravinia and other venues since 2014. “Dan’s music is an extension of his playing and his curiosity,” Zenón continues. “He’s always looking for new challenges, for what’s next. Rhythmically there’s also an affinity, in terms of how we explore subdivision and pulse and modulation. Of his pieces on this album, there’s an element of lyricism and beauty that I almost feel jealous of, and as someone who plays a melodic instrument, the platform is there in such a natural way. It’s just beautiful — you can immerse yourself in it. It’s an open door.”
The figure of Lee Konitz, late alto saxophone legend and devotee of the duo format, is another point of commonality. Zenón ranks Konitz as one of his primary influences on the horn. With Tepfer, the elder statesman recorded Duos with Lee (Sunnyside) and Decade (Verve), and played many live duo engagements in the final decade of his career. He would frequently turn up at Tepfer’s gigs, preferring to sit in the very front — as Zenón discovered one night at Mezzrow, where Konitz was seated just feets away. “Meeting and playing for Lee was like meeting Bird or Coltrane or Miles, it’s that level for me,” Zenón says. “The fact that he would come to the gig and listen and say something nice afterwards — it means the world. The chance to reconnect with the spirit of what he created is such a blessing.”
Zenón’s attention-grabbing “Frontline” first appeared in an octet version on the SFJAZZ Collective’s Live 2008: 5th Annual Concert Tour (devoted to the music of Wayne Shorter). The composer already had a reduced score for piano and saxophone handy, something he’d performed previously with Luis Perdomo, the longtime pianist in his acclaimed quartet. This is the piece’s premiere recording in a duo context. The remaining three by Zenón, all previously unrecorded, were composed for a series of duo performances with the great Danilo Pérez. “La Izquierda Latino-Americana,” or “The Latin-American Left,” has a political meaning but also refers to Pérez’s left hand, a sound and a technical approach that Zenón had in mind while writing. “La Libertad” (“freedom” or “liberty”) is a flowing, breathing rubato meditation, with radiant, circuitous harmonies that finally yield to a conclusive D-flat minor. “Centro de Gravedad” (“center of gravity”) moves between sections of waltz time and 4/4 as it conjures a mood of slow-brewing intensity, with brilliant playing from the duo together and separately.
Tepfer’s “Internal Melodies,” the title track, began as a four-voice chorale reminiscent of Bach. “I love the idea of internal melodies in the same sense as an internal monologue,” Tepfer says, adding, “I have melodies going through my mind all the time.” He has considered Bach from just about every improvisational standpoint on his solo piano releases Goldberg Variations/Variations (2011) and Inventions/Reinventions (2023) as well as his video series Bach Upside Down. “Internal Melodies” has a melody line going through the four voices: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. As Tepfer explains: “The alto and tenor parts are internal melodies, like in Bach, and here Miguel is kind of excavating them one by one.”
“Solstice” is Tepfer’s memorial homage to his mother, who died in a traffic accident in 2019. Zenón mentions it specifically as a standout performance, full of melodic and emotional depth, exactly the kind of “open door” the saxophonist often encounters in Tepfer’s writing. “A Thing and Its Opposite,” another of Tepfer’s, puts the fundamental Bembe clave rhythm, typically 6/8, into 5/8 time as it wrestles with the notion of tension and release occupying the same moment. Or as the composer puts it, “Having the thing and also the opposite of the thing, the thing that points most strongly to the thing without being the thing.” There are examples in Mozart, he observes.
Which brings us to Ligeti. It is well documented that the Hungarian 20\super th\nosupersub -century master wrote his 18 revered Piano Études in response to his encounter with Afro-Cuban music, which he studied in depth and consciously drew upon in his own rhythmic language. This particular étude, “Fanfares,” has a pulsing ostinato that travels between bass and treble clef, left and right hand. “It’s straight-up Latin clave, and very jazz-like,” Tepfer notes. “Miguel and I play the first four pages and then improvise over that ostinato figure. In those first few pages there are these killer melodies, and I knew Miguel would phrase them so beautifully. Unlike Boulez and Xenakis, whose work was based on pure logic and often very forbidding, Ligeti understood you had to bring theater and humor and dance, these age-old human elements, into the music to make it have substance. This étude brings those things together in an incredible way.”
Tepfer performs on a Yamaha CFX piano on Internal Melodies, pairing with Zenón in a stunning recital that captures two standout talents. Be sure to catch them live as they embark on their continued collaborative journeys.
Track Listing:
1. Soundsheets 01:57
2. A Thing And Its Opposite 05:13
3. La Izquierda Latina Americana 06:09
4. Fanfares 03:42
5. Internal Melodies 05:30
6. Centro de Gravedad 07:46
7. I Know 05:33
8. La Libertad 05:20
9. Frontline 06:58
10. Solstice 04:27
11. 317 E 32nd St. 03:14
12. Freedrum 02:18
Personnel:
Dan Tepfer: piano
Miguel Zenón: alto saxofone
Recorded June 19-20, 2018, at Yamaha Artist Services, New York
Produced, Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Dan Tepfer
Cover by Dan Tepfer and Marta Gawin
Review:
Recorded in June 2018, one wonders if this sparkling series of duets fell off the radar of pianist Dan Tepfer and saxophonist Miguel Zenón during the pandemic; it’s so compelling you’d think they’d have rushed to get it into fans’ ears. Its scope is sweeping, including a dramatic pas de deux on Zenón’s “La Izquierda Latina Americana,” a romp through György Ligeti’s “Fanfares” and a gorgeous interpretation of Lennie Tristano’s timeless “317 E 32nd St.” Best of all is the intricate, time-warping interplay on “Frontline,”which dates back to the saxophonist’s time in the SFJAZZ Collective more than a decade ago and features some exceptional horn playing. He and Tepfer are such expansive, expressive musicians that they cover far more ground than you might expect. While Zenón brings the heat, Tepfer follows a more tender-hearted path. Even his multilayered “A Thing And Its Opposite” is spiked with drama, balanced with impassioned release, none more moving that Zenón’s exceptional solo. Bookending this rich compositional tapestry are two improvisations: a brief étude with fluttering horn and minimal piano, and “Freedrum,” a delightful exploration of rhythm, long horn tones and resonant, muted piano strings.
James Hale (DownBeat)
