PIANIST ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ’S LATEST AND THIRD ALBUM, TOCODORO, IS NAMED AFTER CUBA’S NATIONAL BIRD. RODRIGUEZ FEELS AKIN TO THIS AVIARY CREATURE, AS THE TOCODORO THRIVES ON FREEDOM AND ACTUALLY DIES OF SADNESS IF CAGED AND RESTRAINED.
SINCE LEAVING CUBA SEVEN YEARS AGO, RODRIGUEZ HAS IMBIBED THE MULTI-CULTURAL SOUNDS OF AMERICA, AND HIS LATEST ALBUM IS A PRODUCT OF THAT INTRIGUE. IT INCLUDES INPUT FROM CAMEROON BASSIST RICHARD BONA, VOICE OF INDIAN GANAVYA DORAISWAMY AND THE FRENCH-CUBAN DUO OF IBEYI ALONG WITH HIS REGULAR TEAM OF BASSIST REINER RUANO AND DRUMMER MICHAEL OLIVERA.
MUCH HAS CHANGED SINCE HIS FIRST ALBUM WAS RELEASED. WHILE STILL PRODUCED BY THE LEGENDARY QUINCY JONES, THIS RECENT ALBUM IS MUCH MORE ‘WORLDLY,’ ENCOMPASING GLOBAL SOUNDS, WITH RODRIGUEZ’S GOAL BEING A CUBAN MUSICIAN RATHER THAN A MUSICAN THAT PLAYS CUBAN MUSIC.
WE RECENTLY CHATTED WITH THE PIANIST AND COMPOSER, CATCHING UP WITH THE PROGRESS OF HIS CAREER.
I INTERVIEWED YOU WHEN YOUR FIRST ALBUM CAME OUT. THIS IS YOUR THIRD. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED DURING THIS INTERVAL?
I came here in 2009, so I’ve been here 7 years. But, since recording, I’ve learned many things. America is multi-cultural, so I’m able to learn from many cultures here. I couldn’t do that in Cuba. When I was in Cuba, we were isolated from the world in a lot of ways because of the political situation in our country. I didn’t have much of an opportunity to meet new people and do collaborations with artists from different countries like in the United States. Los Angeles is a very multi-cultural city where you can find different people from different places. That has been one of the highlights in my opinion, as well as travelling.
YOU LIVE IN LOS ANGELES. WHAT STICKS OUT IN YOUR MIND ABOUT THE LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE HERE?
Los Angeles is a good place; I like it! There are many things happening here. I left home in Cuba and came here because the people that were helping me were based here in Los Angeles, like Quincy Jones Productions.
YOU HAVE A LOT OF MUSICIANS FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES AND COUNTRIES ON YOUR ALBUM. RICHARD BONA FROM CAMEROON AND IBEYI FROM INDIA, TO NAME JUST A COUPLE. HOW DID YOU MEET BONA?
I knew his music, but I met him 4-5 years ago. Quincy had this program called Global Gumbo All Stars, where he brought Richard on bass, Lionel Loueke on guitar and other artists from different countries. I was the pianist in the band. That’s how I met Richard; we had a great communication and we decided to make a tour in Asia.
That’s how that thing started; since then we’ve been collaborating and doing a lot of things together. Featuring him on my new album is the result of everything that we’ve done so far.
YOU HAVE THREE ALBUMS OF YOUR OWN, BUT UNLIKE SO MANY PIANISTS, YOU HAVE NOT STARTED YOUR CAREER AS A SIDEMAN. WAS THAT A CONSCIOUS DECISION?
I think so; I have collaborated with a lot of people but I always have been very curious about listening to what is happening outside. But, I want to do my own thing; it’s what I feel is the best way to express myself 100%.
Actually, I don’t like doing things by myself. That is why I bring all of these other artists to myself so I can learn from them. At the same time I just want to keep playing my own music. When I play my music I feel something deep in myself and when I collaborate with other people I learn from them, but it’s not really who I am.
WHILE YOUR ALBUMS FEATURE YOU IN TRIOS OR SMALL GROUPS, YOU DO MANY SOLO CONCERTS.
It is true; a solo album is something I would love to do in the near future. I have been playing solo for a long time and I love it. But, it’s solo, and there’s no opportunity to meet people and play with them like that! With other people, they are bringing ideas and I can listen to them and they can listen to me. When you’re playing solo, it’s all about yourself and what you can do.
THE MATERIAL THAT YOU PLAYED AT THE LAST SOLO CONCERT WAS ALL NEW AND UNRECORDED SONGS
Sometimes I do that; it depends how I’m feeling. Sometimes I have transformed the music that I’ve done in albums. The thing is that the music sounds very different; when you play solo I don’t have the other guys, so I have to find a way to find myself, so it’s very different.
QUINCY JONES HAS PRODUCED YOUR THREE ALBUMS. WHAT DOES HE BRING INTO THE STUDIO?
He brings his knowledge; he knows a lot. I have been talking to him for so many years now since I came to the United States. I learn a lot from him. Quincy is a very open-minded person; I talk to him and he always lets me do my thing, even though he always has comments and ideas.
He’s great in that he knows how to make you feel good in the studio or in any other place. That is something that artists need. He lets the artist be themselves and find their own voice. That’s very important for me because I want to find my own thing and keep it like that.
FOR THIS LATEST ALBUM WAS IT HIS IDEA TO BRING ALL OF THESE GUEST ARTISTS?
As we all know, Quincy is a very multi-global person, and I’ve been very influenced by that way of thinking so it was part of my idea also. It wasn’t something that we decided like “OK, this album is going to be ‘la da da’, but at the same time the whole processes that I’ve been learning from him in the studio have influenced my ideas of the unity of music from different countries. Puerto Rico, Cuban, Indian, African and jazz or classical…it’s all just what sound right to you.
That is kind of the way that Quincy thinks.
NOW THAT RELATIONS BETWEEN THE US AND CUBA HAVE CHANGED, ARE THERE ANY THOUGHTS OF GOING BACK THERE TO PLAY?
It’s still difficult. In Cuba there are difficulties to make a concert, but it is something that I’d really love to do. Since I came to the US more than seven years ago I haven’t played in Cuba. This is something that I definitely am missing. I’d love to play in Cuba for the Cuban people.
I haven’t found the opportunity, and to be completely honest I haven’t had an invitation. Usually I go to places because people invite you and tell you that they want you to come and play. In Cuba, to be brutally honest, everything is run by the government, so they are able to tell the artist ‘Do you want to play here? Do you want to play in your country?’
I haven’t heard from them at all. So, it is something that I have to on my own, and it is very difficult. There are very few concert halls with a piano. But, if there is some way they can find me to do it, I will.
ARE YOU PLEASED BY THE PROJECTION OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
I’m extremely happy. I’m doing what I love to do. It is something to be able to share music that I really love with people. This is not something I am doing because of the music business, or something like that. I’m very happy with the station in my life where I can create music that I really love.
If I can connect with people, and people are helping me take it to places, then I’m the luckiest person in the world.
UNLIKE MANY MUSICIANS FROM CUBA, YOU ARE NOT A MUSICIAN THAT PLAYS “CUBAN MUSIC,” BUT YOU’RE WORKING ON BEING A “CUBAN MUSICIAN” THAT PLAYS MUSIC
That’s what I want to bring to people. I am from Cuba of course, but I am playing my own music. That is always my goal. It’s been in my 3 albums and concerts. Every time that I play the piano, Cuba is there. But at the same time I feel like a global citizen.
Even when I was living in Cuba I was interested in what was happening in the whole world. We’re coming from the same place and trying to go to the same place.
YOU ALSO WROTE THE SONG “BETTER CITY, BETTER LIFE” FOR THE SHANGHAI WORLD EXPO 2010
That was a request that the company got. Quincy told me that if I wanted, I could tour and record with them I wrote it with Quincy and Tan Dun, a musician-composer from China. It was a very different thing, and we always learn.
LOOKING BACK, IT’S CLEAR THAT YOU MADE SOME BIG CHOICES, BUT ARE YOU SURPRISED HOW MANY THINGS WERE OUT OF YOUR CONTROL?
When I look back, yes. But, I don’t know; I’m a very spontaneous person. I don’t think in the past too much. It’s the same with the future; I’m living in the present.
I am very fortunate that I can even say something. In the world that we live it is very difficult for a young person to say something in music, or in anything. It’s difficult to share what they are creating with people, and I’m fortunate to be able to share who I am musically with young people.
WHAT IS YOUR NEXT GOAL?
Many. The first one is always “to learn.” I’ve been writing for a symphony this year; I would like to do something for an orchestra. I’m also composing new music for the trio. Everything related to music makes me excited.
Learning is very important. Since what we’re doing is improvising, you always need to incorporate new things, knowledge and experiences into your life to keep going forward.
ONE OF AMERICA’S GREAT STRENGTHS HAS BEEN HER ABILITY TO ABSORB PEOPLE FROM VARIOUS CULTURES AND LET THEM BECOME PART OF WHAT WE CALL “AMERICA.” OUR SUCCESS IS NOT IN OUR UNIFORMITY, AS MOST OTHER COUNTRIES, BUT IN OUR UNITY OF PURPOSE, WHICH IS WHAT “E PLURIBUS UNUM” ACTUALLY MEANS.
ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ HAS EMBODIED THOSE QUALITIES, ABSORBING EVERYTHING HE CAN THAT AMERICA HAS TO OFFER, AND THEN SENDING THE MESSAGE BACK TO US IN SOUNDS AND FLAVORS THAT ARE UNIQUE AND PERSONAL, BUT STILL INDELIBLY AMERICAN. JUST AS A FRENCHMAN LIKE ALEX D’TOCQUEVILLE WAS ABLE TO OBSERVE OUR UNIQUE STRENGTHS WHEN OUR COUNTRY WAS FIRST FORMING, AND PRESENT THOSE OBSERVATIONS IN HIS CLASSIC “DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA,”SO RODRIGUEZ CAN MUSICALLY REMIND US OF HOW WE ARE UNIQUE, AND STILL (AS LINCOLN FAMOUSLY SAID) THE WORLD’S BEST HOPE.