Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet's "10"
Scheduled for Audiophile Vinyl Release
By Saponegro Records
June 24
The Band's 5th Album Celebrates
Their 10th Anniversary
Release Shows Set for
June 17, Club Bonafide, New York City &
June 26, Pittsburgh Jazz Live International Festival
May 6, 2016
The release last year of 10, on ZOHO Music, marked a decade of musical innovation by Gabriel Alegria's Afro-Peruvian Sextet,
its program richly infused with Alegría's trademark synthesis of
folkloric Afro-Peruvian rhythms, jazz, and other musical strains.
Now Alegría's Saponegro Records is preparing to release an audiophile vinyl edition of 10 on June 24 -- the first such record in the history of Afro-Peruvian music.
"We wanted to create a product that would stand the test of
time," says Alegría. "Equal attention, love, and care were placed on
both the artistic and technical aspects of the work."
The resolution of the recording process was maintained at
88.2kHz at 24 bits (rather than 96k) for reasons that included simple
integer-ratio sample rate conversion in order to avoid the phase shifts
and "ringing" of anti-alias filtering at 20kHz. It also meant less data
to be moved around as compared to 96kHz.
Julio Ortega, the Peruvian mixing engineer,
felt that this sampling rate offered the best option for capturing the
heart and soul of Afro-Peruvian music. Specifically, the sound of
Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments, which are made entirely from wood
(no skins), made it necessary to find a sampling rate and bit depth that
would capture their great profundity. The Peruvian cajón, which in the hands of Freddy "Huevito" Lobatón
includes a great dynamic range and varied accents, posed a challenge
not only of sound, but of the "space" surrounding its sound, including
the spontaneous shouts and calls known as guapeo.
"For all of these reasons, it was imperative to maintain the
entire project at high resolution," says Ortega. "One of the keys was to
capture the 60Hz and 40Hz frequencies of the cajón without having them
confused with those of the double bass or kick drum. With the 88.2kHz
sampling rate at 24 bits, we made the most use of the physical space
that contained the instruments during the recording. Further, in order
to avoid problems of distortion with future plug-ins, such as those
found in Universal Audio, it was important to keep the internal DAW
process at 32 bits. All of this in preparation for the move to vinyl."
The end result is a 33-RPM vinyl that was duplicated under the highest standards by Morphius Records
onto 180-gram audiophile quality vinyl. "In order to meet the demands
of 'air space' of the music," says Ortega, "we needed to take full
advantage of the available bandwidth and so it is possible to hear the
'movement' created by each instrument, as it should be, where the cajón lays the sonic foundation of heartfelt interpretations by masterful artists."
10 is a concept album showcasing carefully chosen American and Peruvian standards arranged in the Afro-Peruvian style. Guest artists including bass legend Ron Carter, Grammy Award-winning pianist Arturo O'Farrill, Yellowjackets keyboardist Russell Ferrante, and tabla expert and Miles Davis alumnus Badal Roy augment the sextet, half of whose players are based in Alegría's native Lima and half in New York City. "We've brought together jazz musicians with eminent Peruvian musicians, and we're the glue that holds it together," says Alegría.
Freddy "Huevito" Lobatón,
a founding member of the sextet, is a master of Afro-Peruvian
percussion who grounds the band in the folkloric textures of the
box-like cajón, the cajita, and the quijada (made from the jaw bone of
an ass). Drummer Hugo Alcázar, also a founding member, incorporates the cajón into his drum kit's polyrhythmic feel, while American-born drummer Shirazette Tinnin gracefully navigates the predominantly 12/8 beats. Alegría shares the front line with tenor saxophonist Laura Andrea Leguía, a tremendously expressive player who helped found the band. Peruvian criollo guitarist Yuri Juárez
provides expertly calibrated rhythmic support and telegraphic solos. In
New York, bass duties are shared by two veteran masters, Puerto
Rican-born John Benitez and Nigerian-American Essiet Essiet.
Born (1970) and raised in Lima, Perú, Gabriel Alegria
has divided his time between Perú and the United States
throughout his life. After receiving his bachelor's degree at Kenyon
College in Ohio, Alegría enrolled at City College of New York and earned
an M.A. under the tutelage of Ron Carter. He then
returned to Perú for seven years, five of them spent in the trumpet
section of the Lima Philharmonic while moonlighting as a jazz and rock
musician around the capital city. He relocated to Los Angeles and spent
four and a half years at the University of Southern California, where
the Afro-Peruvian Sextet first came together in 2005.
While at USC (he earned his doctorate in 2007), Alegría studied, worked,
toured, and recorded with his mentor Bobby Shew, vocalist Tierney Sutton, trombonist Bill Watrous, and keyboardist/composer Russell Ferrante -- all of whom contributed to the sextet's debut CD, Nuevo Mundo (Saponegro Records, 2008).
The band released three more albums on Saponegro -- Pucusana (2010), El Secreto del Jazz Afroperuano (2012), and Ciudad de Los Reyes (2013) -- in its crusade "to spread Afro-Peruvian jazz music to the world," says the trumpeter.
Photo: Bex Wade (Sextet), Jorge Luis Pardo V. (Gabriel)
 |
| Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet: "10" EPK |
10 on vinyl
Side 1:
1. Take 5/Condor Pasa (6:06)
2. Contigo Peru (6:48)
3. Lonely Woman (6:55)
Side 2:
1. My Favorite Things (6:34)
2. Caravan (6:05)
3. Taita Guaranguito (7:21)
Critical praise for 10
"The polyrhythmic-triplet pulse common to the folkloric music
of Peru -- in dance rhythms like festejo, tondero and landó -- meshes
well with a jazz cadence. This energetic band, led by the trumpeter and
composer Gabriel Alegría -- has made a mission out of highlighting those
affinities." --Nate Chinen, New York Times
"Alegría and his crew deliver rhythm-saturated,
orchestrally-enticing performances that are the definition of sonic
joy." --Mark Holston, Latino Magazine
"Trumpeter Alegría's resourceful band of Peruvians and New
Yorkers (Newyoruvians?) continue to meld Latin and North American
traditions. Their stimulating fifth album alternates between the
continents and blends musics, including an intriguing combination of
'Take Five' and 'El Condor Pasa.'" --Doug Ramsey, Rifftides
"One of the most adventurous sets of music that you are
likely to be delightfully assaulted by anytime this year." --Raul da
Gama, Latin Jazz Net
**** "A disc to be loved by progressives and block-party dancers alike."
--Jeff Potter, Down Beat
Web Site: afroperuviansextet.com
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