Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Arturo O'Farrill - The Noguchi Sessions (ZOHO 2012)



1. The Sun at Midnight
2. O’ Susanna
3. In Whom
4. Little Niles
5. The Delusion of the Greedy
6. Siboney
7. Alisonia
8. Once I Had A Secret Meditation
9. Mi Vida
10. Obsesion
11. Oh Danny Boy
12. Jelly Roll
"I have waited to record solo piano. It is the scariest thing a pianist can do. But that’s not why. I think it’s because I feel a bit like an outsider. A little like Isamu Noguchi. He was born in Los Angeles of mixed American and Japanese descent. I was born in Mexico to a Cuban father and a Mexican mother but raised in New York. Aesthetically as well, Noguchi flirted with painting, drawing, sculpting, and designing public space. I have performed as an instrumental soloist, a composer of small and large ensembles, and have become known for my work in Afro Latin Big Band Jazz. I am all these things and none of them. There are other parallels; Noguchi was troubled by the restrictions of the established art world, eventually creating his own museum in an unprecedented move. I too got tired of the narrow definitions I’ve been categorized in and created my own orchestra, organization, and educational models." - ZOHO music