Music sounds
TainoLeón
Style soul spirit
At the seamless interface between the right and left hemispheres of our brain is a netherzone playground, a magical place where we can exploit the potential whirlpools of spontaneity which sometimes arise within the structures of primitive song forms. Born in the central mountainous region of Puerto Rico, the traditional Afro-Caribbean forms of my cultural inheritance are clearly evident in my music, but my subsequent experience as an early-twenti-first century norAmérican informs these influences with a vitality all their own. I try to recharge these folk idioms by allowing aspects of them to swim with aspects of other folk traditions, different flavors, desultory ingredients intermingling in unusual contexts. Afro-Klezmer? Gamelan-blues? It's a Pax Americana thing. A humble thumbnail sketch of our multi-cultural zeitgeist. A motion and rest thing, about being viscerally involved yet still mindful of moments. I guess I seek to evoke symbols, to arouse emotionally. To engage, hopefully. Below is a list of projects that I'm currently involved with and of other things I have worked on. I'll be adding and mixing up some music samples as I build. Cheers! |
| Think Horses
In ancient Greece, young medical students were exhorted to think horses, not zebras, when they heard the sound of hoofbeats outside; they were encouraged to resist the temptation to second-guess the obvious. A literal endorsement of simplicity. Summer flowers. The sound of a far-off train. One, two, three, just like that, simplicity in music is elusive. Sublime. In the end it's best to just listen. Itn't it?
the Think Horses are: león - voice & guitar
theo belledin - keys and saxes
adam clark - batterie
emilio caruso - drums
john chapman - contrabass |
Wicked Children
Wicked Children, the brainchild of composer/arranger Adam Roberts, is an ensemble made up of (usually) nine very intense musicians from the Phoenix valley. A strange collective of characters that on a good night might just make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up. Their repertoire is made up entirely of Radiohead music. But, if you came for a nostalgic fix, or to hear your favorite Thom Yorke tune faithfully replicated onstage, you're in for a bit of a surprise. These guys are all jazz and art freaks. Imagine that someone like Ornette Coleman or John Zorn took a handful of Phil Spector or Beatle tunes and then had an introspective field day with the material. The results would be a similar desultory mix - equal parts respect and irreverence. Performances can run the gamut between poignantly lyrical minimalism and powerfully chaotic discord.
Listen to these live performances: both live @ GCC in 2006
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the Wicked Children are: Adam Roberts - leader & middle reeds
Gannon Burleigh - batterie
Jeff Naylor - contrabass
Brock Walters - keys
Chris Benavidez - high reeds
Paul Brewer - low reeds
Scotty Pearson - guitar
Kevin - trumpet & Tuvan throat singing
TainoLeón - voice |
| Anyá
Añá is a folkloric AfroCuban ensemble founded by Emilio Caruso specializing in Lucumí liturgical music. The format is simple, singers and batá drummers. That's it. The chants are in the traditional Lucumí language, a derivate of the Yoruban family of languages, brought to the Americas in slaveships. The people, even in the most trying of circumstances, dutifuly preserved the old Orisha African traditions, though they underwent various changes in content and form in the diaspora on its way to becoming its own beautiful thing. This is a folkloric music with a hierachy of interchanging parts that makes it a joy to learn and to perform. |
the One Take Ponies
The One Take Ponies is not really a band per ce. It's a collective of musicians who work together semi-regularly for CRAS. The local recording school, The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (CRAS for short), sometimes hires me to provide a stimulating quality musical experience for their students to record on tape and/or mix. (grin) This is usually a fun you-never-know-what'll-hit-you gig. It's completely unrehearsed; I don't even know what other musicians will be on the gig sometimes. Usually, I decide what tunes we'll do the night before a session. I'll then write up a quick formchart of the tune.
The name I call this band, by the way, though funny, is no joke. If none of the musicians had a major trainwreck during the tracking, it'll be the take we keep. One take. That's it. Maybe a harmony vocal or a solo overdub, if there's time (each session spans a two-hour class, at the end of which I walk away with a rough board mix of whatever transpired that day).
Sometimes the track winds up being a throwaway (I learned long ago to forgive myself and my friends for not being perfect - especially under pressure), but sometimes some surprisingly cool stuff happens. At any rate, it is always a great opportunity to catch up with old friends who are also great musicians and teachers. |
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| The ConClave is composed of six talented friends from Arizona: Beth Lederman • piano, keys
TainoLeón • voice, guitar
Mike Ozuna • electric guitar
Emerson "el Pulpo" Laffey • drum kit
Xavier Yañez • bass
Tony Valenzuela • latin percussion
. . . all of whom deeply love Latin music and are exceptional musicians in their own right. Collectively they play the kind of tight tumbao that only years of experience playing Latin jazz can bring on, borrowing from folkloric afro-Cuban music its rhythmic vigor and its rustic sound, and then infusing jazz harmony and the high production standards of our new century into the mix. The result is a rich musical blend that is simultaneously rootsy and elegant — familiar yet exploratory. While respecting the traditional Latin song forms, the ConClave boldly explores modern æsthetic sensibilities, at times following their multilingual muse into soaring heights of improvisation whithout ever interrupting the dance flow. This is one highly dynamic and fulfilling world-music ensemble.
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Stand by while I keep building this thing. Peace.
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