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