Skip to main content
Jazz Review: Miguel Zenon
An abiding love for his native Puerto Rico comes out of every note that Miguel Zenon plays

Miguel Zenon
Tipico
(Miel Music)

Miguel Zenon featuring Spektral Quartet
Yo Soy La Tradicion
(Miel Music)

MIGUEL ZENON’S musical heart has never left his country of birth and it beats powerfully through all his performances and albums like the 2016 album Tipico, on which he is joined by Hans Glawischnig, Luis Perdomo and drummer Henry Cole.

Zenon has written all the album’s tunes and every track shows the Caribbean roots of his artistry.
Folk-inspired, they provide tremendous zest and a sense of hope to Zenon’s horn and to Perdomo’s fast-flowing, rippling piano runs which extend and harmonise the sounds of Latin American freedom.

Sangre de mi Sangre is a melody which Zenon plays with simplicity and an uncomplicated lucidity, his notes falling in cadences like sonic petals. Glawischnig’s bass tunnels below Cole’s tapping drumsticks, while on Corteza Zenon’s notes drop like gentle rain.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
oto
Jazz / 30 April 2025
30 April 2025

CHRIS SEARLE wallows in an evening of high class improvised jazz, and recommends upcoming highlights in May

Interview / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to drummer Steve Noble
Men’s football / 4 April 2025
4 April 2025
CHRIS SEARLE interviews saxophonist Chris Williams about the extraordinary electro-acoustic album LEDLEY - a bold fusion of Jazz, football, and community spirit
Ineza
Interview / 26 February 2025
26 February 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Rwanda-born jazz vocalist INEZA
Similar stories
Album reviews / 17 February 2025
17 February 2025
New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
Music / 30 October 2024
30 October 2024
New releases from Miguel Zenon, Angelica Sanchez/Chad Taylor, Paul Dunmall
Jazz album reviews / 11 June 2024
11 June 2024
New releases from Ingi Bjarni, Simon Spillett Big Band and Charlotte Keeffe's Right Here, Right Now Quartet