For Wayne Wallace, Intercambio doesn’t refer to a trendy idea or an optimistic gloss on difficult international relations. In his creatively charged body of music, intercambio, or cultural interchange, is a soul-deep communion, an ongoing and never ending intra-family conversation between the extraordinarily rich African Diaspora cultures of the United States and Cuba (and various Caribbean cousins). The fifth release by the twice Grammy-nominated Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet, Intercambio adds an enthralling new chapter to the dialogue. The album is slated for release on Wallace’s Patois Records on July 7, 2015.
Featuring percussion legend Michael Spiro, powerhouse bassist David Belove, versatile drummer and percussionist Colin Douglas, and ace pianist Murray Low, the Latin Jazz Quintet brings together some of the most formidable and sought after musicians in the Bay Area (though Wallace and Spiro now spend much of their time in Bloomington, where they’re professors at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music). These musicians are steeped in jazz, popular Cuban music and Afro-Cuban folkloric roots, but as American-born artists with no Caribbean ancestry, they became clave initiates in young adulthood. With no proprietary agenda “we have nothing to prove in that respect,” Wallace says. “It allows us to express our own voices in the music, and gives us a lot of license to explore the melding of the different styles.”
“Check out the best Latin jazz bands in the Bay Area, and you’ll find one name in common — Wayne Wallace.”
— Andrew Gilbert, Contra Costa Times
http://waynewallacelatinjazzquintet.com
