At the Blue Whale Tuesday night, pianist Alfredo Rodriguez demonstrated that there is a vast difference between “Cuban music” and music played by a Cuban. Instead of replicating sounds of the Buena Vista Social Club or Ricky Ricardo, the pianist/composer has taken the sonic heritage that’s in his dna and mixed it with a wide variety of new spicy sounds to create a whole new musical feast.
Along with a flexible and dynamic rhythm team of Peter Slavov/b and Henry Cole/dr, Rodriguez has added the ethereal and penetrating voice of Ganavya, to bring a Central Asian flavor to the Caribbean pulse. From the new album, Rodriguez and Ganavya melded passionate wordless vocals while the instruments created exciting cascades on the dynamic “Yemaya.” Rodriguez’s piano solo was a thrilling roller coaster of a ride while the drums and bass created rising crests of rhythm with Ganavya weaving in between like a long boarder shooting the tube.
The trio broke into the traditional piece “20 Años” which included a richly pulsating bass line form Slavov while Rodriguez and Cole created a sensuously slithering treatment of the melody before Cole broke off into a luscious bolero while Rodriguez’s fingers chimed like a late night dancer before whirling into a closing tornado of swirling passion of ivory ecstasy.
The closing title track from the Tocoroco album brought back Ganavya who this time used her voice for mystical contemplation, melding it with delicate piano ripples. The rhythm team slowly added wood to the fire resulting in her voice rising up into a passionate plea over the torrent of crashing waves. The contrast of the cirrus cloud of voice with the thunderstorm of instruments showed how wonderful things can occur when civilizations collide, but still point in the same direction.
Rodriguez continues to push jazz in a fascinating direction, and as producer Quincy Jones observed after the show, “This guy’s got it.” Catch him next time and get some of it as well.
Upcoming shows at the Blue Whale include pianist Mitch Forman 05/24, alto saxist Danny Janklow 05/27 and guitarist Julian Lage 06/04