Sounds of Space

“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.” - San Jose Mercury News

I first encountered Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez at the 2009 Detroit Jazz Festival, where he surely earned the unofficial title of “Best Surprise Artist.” Unlike any Cuban pianist I had heard, Unlike any Cuban pianist I had heard, the then- 23-year-old Rodriguez seemed more a melding of Bill Evans, Kenny Werner, and Fred Hersch. He flashed touches of Thelonious Monk in conception if not execution, as well as hints here and there of his Cuban heritage. Knowing Alfredo was working with mentor/producer Quincy Jones, I impatiently awaited the release of his first recording. Fortunately that wait is over, with the release of Sounds of Space on Mack Avenue.

The recording marks another milestone in Rodriguez’s journey from his native Havana to his current home in Los Angeles to his status as a rising star on the American jazz scene. Son of a musician, Alfredo’s early talents as a classical, then popular, then jazz pianist were nurtured through formal music education and experience touring in his father’s band. In 2006, he was selected as one of two Cubans to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival where, playing his own music for the first time outside of Cuba, he came to the attention of Quincy Jones. Jones maintained contact with the young pianist over the next three years while trying to find a way to cut through the morass of US-Cuba politics to work with Alfredo in the U.S. In early 2009, Alfredo decided to defect in order to pursue his music career. Overcoming a number of logistical and political barriers, Rodriguez ultimately gained asylum in the U.S., where Jones has continued to support his protégé’s career, now serving as producer for Alfredo’s debut release.

Alfredo Rodriguez©Andrea Canter

“Cu-Bop” suggests Dizzy Gillespie on speed, a boppishly Latin spinout highlighting Alfredo’s ability to meld wide-ranging elements into a cohesive, appealing whole for piano trio. Joya’s bass solo is another high point. On the solo “April,” the pianist begins with a coolly European ambience from both ends of the keyboard before morphing into a Bach Meets Chopin in Havana rhapsody. Slavov and Mela reappear on “Oxygen,” Mela providing the fiery intro percussion, Slavov the ongoing dark counterpoint to Rodriguez’s wary explorations. The title track, with Vega on clarinets, is marked by murky vamps and anxious harmonies; while the trio’s “Crossing the Border” is complex and celebratory, perfect for an adventure film soundtrack—which indeed could be the soundtrack to Alfredo’s own border crossing that inspired the composition. “y bailaria la negra?” pays homage to Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona, a swaying and swirling classical sensibility atop Havana son. “Transculturation” is aptly titled, a whirlwind concoction of multiple influences from modern classical notions to all things Cuban, and features some pyrotechnic sax from Vega.

“Fog” more overtly melds classical and Cuban traditions, bringing a quartet of flute, oboe, bassoon and French Horn to the piano trio, creating a finale of surprising subtlety and “sounds of space,” the sounds of cultural transition and lingering spaces, some left behind, some yet to be filled. No doubt our soundscape will be amply filled by the future music of Alfredo Rodriguez.

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