Pianist Josean Jacobo's HERENCIA CRIOLLA Is Out Today

Dominican pianist and composer Josean Jacobo has set a remarkable precedent as a conscientious and adept Latin American composer in today's jazz scene. Over the course of his far-reaching musical career, Jacobo has exposed audiences to a new musical mindset-one that challenges how Caribbean culture is so acutely woven into the makeup of modern jazz in the United States. At the point where elements of these foreign traditions have crept into the jazz scene and become fundamental truths for jazz musicians functioning in the current space today, Jacobo embarks on another, profound sonic excursion.

Continuing his exploration of the intersection of Afro-Dominican music and jazz, Jacobo presents his expansive new release, Herencia Criolla. Noted music scholar Michael Ambrosino describes Jacobo's work as a cultural amalgamation that balances the musical heritage of Merengue de Palo Echao', Bachata, and Gagá with a contemporary Jazz sound: "Herencia Criolla deepens the musical dialectic on the enduring ingenuity of Dominican music," Ambrosino adds. The record has an anthropological presentation - short field recordings transition into the main tracks, guiding listeners through the cultural inspiration behind each composition and arrangement, creating a bridge between history and its influence on the present.

Following the critical success of his previous album release Cimarron (E7), which broke both the top 100 on the Jazz Week radio chart and was named one of the Best Albums of 2019 by Jazziz Magazine, Herencia Criolla brings back Jacobo's magnanimous rhythm section with Daroll Méndez on bass and Otoniel Nicolás on drums. The three have developed quite the rapport as an ensemble with their profound understandings of musical tradition and cultivation of a group identity. As a unit, they play with extraordinary range and strength.

The chemistry of the trio is overt on the arrangement of the traditional melody "San Miguel" which serves as a stellar sample of the entire album's concept; a folk tradition of honoring a Catholic saint with African rhythms transformed into a vehicle for jazz harmony and ensemble interplay. The tracks "Batey" and "Quisqueya" augment the percussion section with lively and complex rhythms provided by Magic Mejía and Felix García, the latter inspired by the Taino name for the Hispaniola island (home of the Dominican Republic) once more anchoring the music to the roots of history in the Caribbean. The spirited "Dos Locos" finds special guest altoist Miguel Zenon, an expert in the Latin American music scene, in consummate form as he navigates the tricky tune with ease. The Juan Luis Guerra classic "Bachata Rosa" gets a straight eights treatment with Ramón Vázquez holding the bass chair. The fresh harmonic treatment and the band's nimble interaction illuminates how the Latin American songbook is a fertile ground still left to explore.

In the liner notes, Ambrosino declares that "Jacobo continues to educate audiences on the impact Caribbean culture has on Jazz. Herencia Criolla, Jacobo's latest archeological expedition, invites listeners to decolonize their musical mindsets, honoring the complex diversity of musical influences that have forged Jazz into one of the most vibrant and influential art forms on earth". With Herencia Criolla, Josean Jacobo adds another important document to the vast catalog of Latin Jazz as an inextricable partner to jazz music.

Herencia Criolla is available on all streaming platforms today.

MORE ABOUT JOSEAN JACOBO

Josean Jacobo (pronounced Ho-see-ann) takes us on a sonorous journey through the identity of the Dominican people and their culture, adding into jazz some of the most relevant rhythms of his land and roots. He visits some precarious communities where the folkloric manifestations remain the soul of its inhabitants. By using his native idioms he contributes different colours and nuances to the world of Jazz and Latin Jazz. His last album "Cimarrón" broke the top 100 chart on jazz week, broke the top 50 chart on ABC Jazz Australia, got to be on BBC's prestigious "Most requested jazz records", got selected as one of the best albums of 2019 published on Jazziz Magazine, and got the attention of so many jazz critics, and radio shows.

Jacobo not only invites one to get acquainted and to enjoy jazz in a new and fresh direction with well thought and developed compositions, noting that the constant and successful exploration and incorporation of Josean ́s idioms embellishes and contributes to the rich lexicon of jazz through its fusions with the varied rhythmic richness of his country; but as well it should not be missing in any record collection that contemplates Latin Jazz, Jazz with Afro- Caribbean accents, jazz with the colors of Quisqueya: Afro-Dominican Jazz!

Supported by his trio, he brings to the audiences a new album Herencia Criolla, which digs deep into his culture balancing his musical heritage with contemporary jazz