ALBUM CO-PRODUCED BY QUINCY JONES

Sounds Of Space, the title of Cuban pianist and composer Alfredo Rodríguez’ debut recording, evokes images of science fiction. In truth, it’s about a far more personal adventure. “It’s about the space that surrounds us,” he explains. “In this record I wanted to introduce myself: here are the people, the places and the sounds that have surrounded me, and made me who I am.”

A key player in Rodríguez’ extraordinary story is producer Quincy Jones, who co-produced Sounds Of Space with Rodríguez.

“He is very special, and I do not say that easily because I have been surrounded by the best musicians in the world my entire life,” said Jones. “And he is one of the best.” In turn, for Rodríguez, 26, Jones has not only become a mentor and a teacher but “like a new father.” Still, such priceless endorsement can also create impossibly high expectations. But in Sounds Of Space, Rodríguez proves up to the challenge.

The album comprises 11 tracks composed and arranged by Rodríguez. It includes nods to Cuban masters such as Ernesto Lecuona, but also pianistic models such as Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk; it draws on the tradition, but it has a personal imprint. And now and then, Sounds Of Space is also shaped by nostalgia for a country left behind, so near yet so far.

Born in Havana, Cuba, the son of a popular singer, television presenter and entertainer of the same name, Rodríguez began his formal music education at seven. Percussion, not piano, was his first choice. “But…to choose what I wanted I had to wait until I was 10,” he explains. “So I picked piano. By the time I could actually switch to percussion, I knew the piano was my path.”

He graduated to the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán, and then to the Instituto Superior de Arte. But while his formal musical education was strictly classical, he also learned music “on the street,” or more precisely, on stage. “I didn’t play with many dance groups, but I played in my dad’s band since I was 14,” he says. “And my dad presented a daily TV show and many famous Cuban musicians came through it and we had every type of music. I was still a kid but had a chance to perform every day, and write arrangements for all kinds of music: boleros, rock ‘n roll, dance music-you name it. It is where I learned the discipline of being a professional musician. That was another great school for me. I was very lucky.”

The momentous discovery during that formative period, however, came packed on a CD. “When I was 15, my uncle gave me Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert,” he recalls. “That’s when I began to explore the idea of improvisation. Up to then it had been all Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, and I’m thankful to my teachers for it because without that I wouldn’t be the same pianist. But up to that point I didn’t know anything about improvisation. The Köln Concert changed my life. I realized that was what I wanted to do: just sit and play. And not only musical ideas; music doesn’t come only from music. It can reflect and speak to what surrounds us.”

In 2006, Rodríguez was selected to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival. While there, he was invited to a gathering at the house of the festivals’ founder and director, Claude Nobs, who asked him if he would play for Quincy Jones.

“And of course I said yes,” recalls Rodríguez. “I remember I played an arrangement I had written of ‘I Love You,’ by Cole Porter. And when I finished, Quincy said he liked it a lot and that he wanted to work with me. That was amazing. That someone I admire so much would be interested in doing something with me was incredible. But I’m a realist, and while it was a nice idea I thought it would be difficult. And it was.”

Still, a month later, back in Cuba, he received an email from Jones’ Vice President Adam Fell. “Then I knew this was serious. That’s when I decided I was coming to the U.S.”

In 2009, while in Mexico after playing some engagements with his father, who has lived there since 2008, Rodríguez made his move and flew to Laredo-where he was arrested and held by the border police.

“I had nothing: a suitcase with a sweater, a pair of jeans and my music,” he says. “And when they interviewed me I told them the truth: I was coming to stay. I wasn’t doing planning to do anything illicit. I was coming to write and play music, work with Quincy Jones and start my career. And I told them: ‘If you turn me back, I’ll be back tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, until I can make it through.’ They talked among themselves, put me in cab and sent me on my way. That’s how I started my life in the United States.”

Few artists get to make their public debut professionally in the United States at the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, opening for Wayne Shorter. And Rodríguez also made appearances at events such as the SXSW Music Festival, the Detroit Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival and the San Francisco Jazz Festival, as well as performances at international festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Umbria (Italy), Montreux (Switzerland), Mawazine (Morocco), Mundo Latino (Brazil), and the Tag Heur Shanghai Jazz and Blues Week (China), among others.

Now, in Sounds Of Space, the arc of the music suggests a young artist looking back and forward, taking stock at the beginning of a new road.

The energetic “Qbafrica” mixes elements of avant-jazz with Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and African music, and “is titled in honor of Quincy, who was nicknamed ‘Q’ by Frank Sinatra. He’s been championing for years this notion of a global cultural unity. This piece is a tribute to that idea.”

“Sueño de Paseo” evokes walking again in the streets of Havana, while in “Y Bailaria La Negra? (a Ernesto Lecuona),” Rodríguez both pays tribute to-and teases-one of the grand masters of Cuban music as he playfully alludes to his piece “Y La Negra Bailaba?”

Meanwhile, “Cubop” celebrates Bud Powell, “one of my favorite pianists,” explains Rodríguez. “It’s my idea of how bop would have sounded in Cuba if he had been born there.”

The stunning virtuosic display in “April” suggests an impossible piano duet for solo piano, while pieces such as “Oxygen,” “Transculturation” and “Crossing the Border” are eloquent examples of Rodríguez’ idea of drawing on non-musical ideas and experiences for his music.

“I wrote ‘Crossing The Border’ the first week I lived in the States, and it reflects all the stress of that crossing,” he says. “That’s what I lived. That’s what I wanted to communicate.”

As for the title track, which starts with a quirky habanera cadence, it elicits from Rodríguez the story of the true original title of the song-and the record. “The original title comes from a quote about music by José Martí, a Cuban writer and poet whose work has really touched me and influenced my work,” explains Rodríguez. “Unfortunately, it didn’t sound as good in English as a title, so we chose a different tack. But Marti’s line says it all: ‘Lo verdadero es lo que no termina: y la música está perpetuamente palpitando en el espacio.’ That which is true never ends, and music is perpetually beating in space.”

For more information, click here.

For more information, click here.

For more information, click here.

Friday, October 28/2011 @ Shanghai Concert Hall – Shanghai, China

Saturday, October 29/2011 @ SEVVA – Hong Kong

Sunday, October 30/2011 @ SEVVA – Hong Kong

For more information click here.

To read the full review, click here.

Alfredo Rodriguez Trio w/ Reinier Elizarde & Henry Cole

For more information, click here.

July 1 – Rigas Ritmi International Music Festival @ Riga Kongresu nams Rīga, Latvia
July 7 – Sunset / Sunside Jazz Club Paris, France
July 9 – Montreux Jazz Festival 2011 Montreux, Switzerland
July 12 – The Vortex Jazz Club London, UK
July 13 – Montreux Jazz Festival 2011 (Quincy Jones Presents: A Night of Global Gumbo with Alfredo Rodriguez TRIO, Emily Bear, Esperanza Spalding, Nikki Yanofsky) Montreux, Switzerland
July 14 – 35 Festival de Jazz de Vitoria-Gasteiz (Teatro Principal Antzokia) Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
July 15 & 16 – Festival Internacional de Música Castell de Peralada Peralada, Spain
July 17 – Plaza de la Catedral Tarragona, Spain
July 20 – Quincy Jones & The Global Gumbo All Stars @ Festival Castell de Peralada Peralada, Spain

For more information, click here.

To read the complete article, click here.

You can also visit Southwest.com/itunes to download one of Alfredo’s songs for FREE from iTunes.

Para leer el articulo, visite: Avui.cat

Wednesday, May 25 at 09:45PM

OLM Souissi – Rabat, Morocco

For more information, click here.

Photo credit by Tom Elrich

Tuesday, May 3rd at 7:30 & 9:30 PM

Jazz Standard

For more information visit www.jazzstandard.net

Alfredo Rodriguez has contributed a version of “The Bare Necessities” to Disney’s new compilation album entitled “Everybody Wants To Be A Cat, Vol. 1″. Other artists that contributed versions of Disney songs include: Dave Brubeck, Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, Roberta Gambarini, the Bad Plus, Mark Rapp, Nikki Yanofsky, Esperanza Spalding, Regina Carter, Gilad Hekselman and Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Click here to open the album in Amazon.

To read the full review, click here.

To read the full review, click here.

For more information, click here.

For more info, click here.

Excerpt: ”Más alla de la maestría de Corea y Bollani, Umbria repetía con un pianista que, recomendado por Quincy Jones, está tomando al asalto los festivales de todo el mundo (y muy pronto, los de España). Se trata de Alfredo Rodríguez, otro de los increíbles fenómenos musicales que aparecen en Cuba. Fue, sin duda, la sorpresa del festival con sus tres conciertos a trío y un concierto en solitario. Acompañado por Peter Slavov al contrabajo, que ejerce de ancla poderosa, y Francisco Mela a la batería, sorprende la cohesión del trío, la fuerza de su propuesta, el trabajo conjunto de tres músicos que tienen claro que pueden constituirse en una referencia del jazz contemporáneo por su trabajo conjunto.”

To read the full review,click here.

For more info, click here.

Alfredo Rodriguez - Photo credit by Michela Rufini

di Lucio Giovannella
foto di Michela Rufini

Come buona tradizione ogni anno UJW ci regala una novità del panorama internazionale del jazz. Quest’anno la sorpresa si chiama Alfredo Rodriguez, giovane pianista sudamericano scoperto dal produttore di fama mondiale, nonché collega di Miles Davis negli anni sessanta, Quincy Jones.

Rodriguez è un vero talento, viscerale sia nelle composizioni che nelle sue performances pianistiche. Nel suo secondo concerto, davanti ad una platea non gremitissima ma molto attenta, il suo trio, formato dal contrabbassista Peter Slavov e dal batterista Francisco Mela, ha sfoderato una prestazione fresca e appassionata, anche se dai toni scuri e introspettivi.

Tre brani originali, presi dal cd “Sounds of space“, con un’introduzione piena di elementi di musica classica e contemporanea che scivola pian piano in un’atmosfera dal sapore latino.

Finale con Rodriguez al piano solo e bis del trio con il brano “ Qbafrica “, composizione in stile latin jazz, che riporta nella sala un senso di euforia tipico della musica del Sudamerica.

Trio straordinario. Concerto di alto livello, un po’ impegnativo nell’ascolto.

Francisco Mela - Photo credit by Michela Rufini

Peter Slavov - Photo credit by Michela Rufini

To read the full review, click here.

Umbria Jazz Winter

For more info visit www.umbriajazz.com

Jazz for the Holidays

Come join Alfredo Rodriguez and the Thelonious Monk Institute/LACHSA Ensemble as they play in the “Jazz for the Holidays” music event, presented by Arts Brookfield, on December 14th at 12PM. The free concert will be held in the Ernst and Young Plaza at 725 Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. Hope to see you there!

For more info, click here.

Take a look at some photos from the Alfredo Rodriguez Quartet’s recent trip to South Africa, where they had the chance to play at the birthday party of Phuthuma Nhleko and play with members of the Gauteng Jazz Academy, in Johannesburg!

]]> http://www.alfredomusic.com/archives/701/feed 0 http://www.alfredomusic.com/archives/688 http://www.alfredomusic.com/archives/688#comments Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:10:26 +0000 adam http://www.alfredomusic.com/?p=688

Alfredo Rodriguez on MOVE Magazine

To read the article, click here.

Alfredo Rodriguez Trio

Wednesday, Nov.17  at  7 pm

“We Always Swing” Jazz Series – Whitmore Recital Hall

Address: 107 Reynolds Alumni Center – Columbia, MO  USA  65211

Tickets : (573) 449 3001

For more info, click here.

Quincy Jones - "Soul Bossa Nostra"

Pre-Order Soul Bossa Nostra Now!

Be among the first to get your copy of Quincy Jones’ New Album! http://tinyurl.com/24yh2ah

For more info visit  www.quincyjones.com

Alfredo Rodriguez – piano
Peter Slavov – bass
Francisco Mela – drums

JAZZ BAKERY “MOVABLE FEAST”
THE ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ TRIO
THURSDAY, SEPT. 30^th ONE SHOW  8:30 PM
MUSICIANS INSTITUTE CONCERT HALL
1655 N. MCCADDEN PLACE,
HOLLYWOOD, CA 90028

For more info visit www.jazzbakery.com

Alfredo Rodriguez & Yamandu Trio - Brasil

For more info, click the Tour page above.

Photo credit : Foundation Jazz Art - Krzysztof Wojciechowski

For more info, click the Tour page above. Reservations can be made at www.jazzalley.com or (206) 441 9729

Excerpt: “Rimarra’ impressa di questo concerto pazzescamente intenso un’immagine molto forte: Alfredo Rodriguez che, nel bel mezzo di un solo giunto al culmine per impulsi ritmici e armonici, improvvisamente fugge dal pianoforte per scaricare una (positiva) tensione emotiva cosi’ alta da non sembrare sostenibile. E’ giovane Rodriguez, appena venticinquenne, ed e’ stato scoperto da Quincy Jones, che lo definisce uno dei suoi migliori artisti. E in effetti lui, il bassista Peter Slavov e il batterista Francisco Mela hanno incantato il pubblico con la loro musica. Alfredo e’ cubano ed e’ un pianista prodigioso, non solo tecnicamente. A Perugia sintetizzando creativamente la sua Cuba, gli appassionati studi classici ed il jazz, ha dimostrato quanto jazz ancora c’e’ da scoprire, per nostra fortuna: intro di note sospese ed indefinite che lasciano disorientati da tanta misurata bellezza, si alternano ad ondate percussive ritmiche e ancora a lirismo (ha suonato “Veinte Anos” e “Quizas” da far commuovere): un mix di istinto e logica musicale, vibrante senza mai strafare, un feeling con il contrabbasso di Slavov (eccezionalmente intenso, prezioso in questo mare di ritmo, poeticita’ e note) e la batteria di Francisco Mela (anche egli cubano, una fantasia sfrenata ma mai eccessiva) che e’ da definirsi quasi magico. Due cubani, un bulgaro naturalizzato americano: artisti che portando profondamente dentro di se’ il proprio mondo hanno potuto arricchire senza paura il loro background con mille sollecitazioni nuove, rafforzando ancora di piu’ la loro identita’ musicale, arricchendo il loro linguaggio per parlare meglio di se stessi. Rodriguez sul suo pianoforte soffre e gioisce, non e’ mai ammiccante e strategico: e’ un virtuoso con l’anima.” To view the full story, click here.

Big thank you to John Cappo, Yue-Sai Kan, and Grace Pen (all pictured) who along with Mercedes Benz, Moet Chandon, Brown Sugar, and SMG made Alfredo’s first visit to China a smashing success!

China Daily featured Alfredo in their 2010 Shanghai World Expo coverage for his contribution to the Expo English-version theme song, Better City, Better Life. Alfredo performed the song at the closing ceremony of the 13th Shanghai International Film Festival on June 20. The article dubbed his piano playing as “a moving experience.” To view the full story, click here.

We’re thrilled to announce Alfredo will be performing at Brown Sugar in Shanghai, China! For more information, please visit www.brownsugarlive.com.

Alfredo has co-written a song with Quincy Jones, Tan Dun, and Siedah Garrett that will serve as the theme song for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The song, dubbed “Better City, Better Life” will debut at the Opening Ceremonies of the Expo later this month. To read more as reported by Entertainment Tonight, click HERE.

Monday evening, Alfredo Rodriguez played to a full house at the Winspear Opera House / AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, Texas. The show was part of Larry Rosen’s “Jazz Roots” series, and also featured famous Latin Pianists Eddie Palmieri and Michel Camilo. The performance was followed by a standing ovation for Rodriguez, who begins his first tour and releases his first album this Summer.

Don’t forget! Alfredo live in SF tonight at Yoshis San Francisco.
http://www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco/jazzclub/artist/show/1089

To Learn More, Click HERE And To Purchase Tickets, Click HERE

Join us tonight in New York for a special show at the Highline Ballroom. Performances by The Alfredo Rodriguez Trio, Jon Batiste Band, Francisco Mela’s Cuban Safari, and McCoy Tyner Trio with Special Guest Gary Bartz. Doors at 6:00 PM and show at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $25.00. To view more information on this event, please click here.

To purchase tickets, please click here.

Highline Ballroom
431 W 16th St New York, NY 10011 
between 9th and 10th Ave 
(212) 414-5994

We’re thrilled to announce that on January 26th 2010, Alfredo will be performing at Yoshi’s in San Francisco. Doors open at 8:00 PM. You can buy tickets here. To view details on this upcoming performance, click here. 

Photo Credit: Lawrence K. Ho, Los Angeles Times / October 3

Alfredo performed to a crowd of 18,000 Angelenos at the Hollywood Bowl for “Bienvenido Gustavo” on Saturday, October 3rd. Mentor Quincy Jones introduced Alfredo as the first performance of the evening. Alfredo performed ‘Crossing The Border,’ and ‘Mazurca en Glissando.’ The event also featured special performances by Herbie Hancock (with the Los Angeles County High School for the Jazz Arts Band), David Hidalgo & Taj Mahal (with Los Cenzontles), Andrae Crouch, and Flea (with the Silverlake Music Conservatory). At the later half of the night, the Expo Center Youth Orchestra performed “Ode To Joy” with Gustavo Dudamel conducting. Finally, Gustavo conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra as they performed an exhilarating rendition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. To read more, click HERE.

“Now, Rodriguez’s grace under pressure and talent for finding emotional truth in the split-second fall of a piano key has brought him to the verge of an improbable success story. The musician, who turns 24 on Wednesday, will be performing today at the Hollywood Bowl as part of the “¡Bienvenido Gustavo!” concert celebrating Gustavo Dudamel’s arrival as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new music director…[Alfredo] is recording a debut album with Quincy Jones, the Grammy Award-winning composer, producer and musician who discovered Rodriguez at the Montreux Jazz Festival and has become his mentor, teacher and, Rodriguez says, “like a new father” to him… Since moving stateside, Rodriguez has been receiving loud ovations and praise from fellow professionals at such venues as the Monterey and Playboy jazz festivals. Jones says that when he first heard Rodriguez play three years ago “it knocked me on my booty, man!”…Some Los Angeles musical insiders, including Josh Groban and Alan and Marilyn Bergman, got a preview of Rodriguez’s talents during a showcase a couple of months ago at the Vibrato Grill Jazz. In his brief set, Rodriguez demonstrated his elegant yet explosive technique and command of an array of musical idioms.”— Reed Johnson ⋅ October 3, 2009

Mercury News”>

“Young Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez sounds the way Monk might have sounded if he had been born in Chick Corea’s body and raised on a diet of Bach Chopin and Stravinsky in a Havana conservatory.” -Mercury News

“It’s not easy to silence the outdoor Garden Stage crowd, but a hush fell over the ground within minutes, and for the next hour the quiet was broken only by enthusiastic applause… and the occasional airplane.” - The Jazz Observer