Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo “El Arte Del Bolero”

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Miguel Zenón — alto saxophone Luis Perdomo — piano Jazz Vivace proudly presents Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo as part of the Spring 2024 Jazz Series. As an instrumentalist, I spend a lot of my time working on making the saxophone an extension of my creative process. This process is always filtered through interpretation and expressiveness, and more often than not, I find myself looking up to some of my favorite singers (people like Ismael Rivera, Cheo Feliciano, and Andy Montañez) as sources of inspiration. In their individual voices, I can hear a reflection of their unique personalities, all manifested at the highest level through their interpretation of songs. These melodies become vehicles for their creativity—a canvas on which they’ll portray their feelings and states of mind. But these are not just any songs. These are songs they have heard hundreds of times, familiar pieces of music they know very well, and that is sort of the way I feel about the repertoire on this album. We chose compositions from the Bolero era that we could play right away, without giving it a second thought: songs from the times of our parents and grandparents that somehow stuck around long enough for us to get to know them and truly love them. They are all as essential to our development as the music of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, or Thelonious Monk, but perhaps even more familiar. When we play these songs, we can hear the lyrics in the back of our minds—something that provides a very deep connection, one that is hard to replicate in any other situation. It is almost beyond familiar. These songs are part of us. We recorded this music as a live show, all in one take, without much preparation other than discussing tonalities and some basic elements of form. We were pleasantly surprised with the results and decided they deserved to be shared. There is nothing like making music with someone else, finding a common language we can grab onto, and then just going and exploring that together. We hope this comes across here and that you enjoy the music. Miguel Zenón A $15 food/drink minimum is charged per person in the party, per set, if the total for beverages purchased by the party does not meet the minimum. Important Notices: If you do not check in by 15 minutes into the start of the set, we reserve the right to resale your seats with no refund. Refunds must be requested 24 hours before the start of the performance.