# Edmar Castaneda and Gregoire Maret Go Mano A Mano, as does Michel Camilo: Photos, Videos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/06/04/edmar-castaneda-and-gregoire-maret-go-mano-a-mano-as-does-michel-camilo-photos-videos/
- Published: 2019-06-04T15:05:23+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Along with the latest by the Anat Fort Trio and Sam Newsome — and a 20-year-old
stunner from Paul Bley, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian.**

**Michel Camilo, “Mano a Mano”**

There’s usually an adversarial slant to the term “Mano a Mano,” with its connotation
of hand-to-hand combat. But not if the hands belong to Michel Camilo, a Dominican-
born pianist and composer with an irrepressible, exuberant style. Camilo first recorded
a song by that name for a trio album in 2011. He revisited and enlarged the theme
for a new album, _Essence, _releasing Friday on Resilience Music Alliance.

The album features a powerhouse big band that Camilo last convened a decade ago.
The ranks of the band include the likes of saxophonist Ralph Bowen, trombonist Michael
Dease and trumpeter Michael Philip Mossman — each of whom takes a hard-charging 
solo on “Mano a Mano,” premiering here.

Camilo’s solo arrives just over three minutes in, and it’s done within 40 seconds.
But this is someone who knows how to make a powerful impression right away; his 
bluesy rat-a-tat and hammering octaves are the work of a seasoned demolitions expert.
His rhythm team — Cuban percussionist Eliel Lazo and drummer Cliff Almond — take
the next two solos, before the band comes roaring back in.

**Edmar Castañeda and Grégoire Maret, “Santa Morena” (Featuring Béla Fleck)**

The title of _Harp Vs. Harp_, an album due out on ACT Music on June 14, is another
example of false confrontation. The harpists in this case are Edmar Castañeda, a
virtuoso on the Andean harp, and Grégoire Maret, who holds the same stature on the
French harp, aka harmonica. Their rapport on the album suggests a precise antithesis
of oppositional energies; you’ll rarely find a more harmonious pairing.

For their version of “Santa Morena,” by the fastidious Brazilian composer Jacob 
do Bandolim, Maret and Castañeda call on a third musician — American banjo whiz 
Béla Fleck. There’s no sense of strain in this cultural convergence, on a song whose
rhythm pulls toward the flamenco pulse of bulería. (Don’t miss the heat that Castañeda
brings to the groove around the halfway mark, beginning at 2:40.)

**Paul Bley / Gary Peacock / Paul Motian, “When Will The Blues Leave”**

Pianist Paul Bley, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian first made an album
together in the 1960s. They didn’t make another one as a trio until 1998, when they
recorded _Not Two, Not One_, a marvel of collective intuition and unthinking wisdom.
_When Will the Blues Leave_, just out on ECM, is a breathtaking document from the
tour that followed, recorded in Switzerland in ’99. The title track — by Ornette
Coleman, a touchstone for all involved — is a natural highlight.

“When Will the Blues Leave,” which made its debut on _Something Else!!!! The Music
of Ornette Coleman_, was also a track on _Paul Bley with Gary Peacock, _that album
from the ‘60s. (It was released on ECM in 1970.) The approach to the song here is
both forward-tilt and wide open: at one point in the piano solo, just after the 
three-minute mark, bass and drums drop out so that Bley can draw his elaborations
unencumbered. After about a minute, Peacock makes his peekaboo reentry, if only 
for a moment; Motian muscles in for the world’s briefest drum solo at 4:40. (It 
lasts no more than 12 seconds.) You can tell how deeply comfortable these masters
feel, and how resistant they are to complacency.

**Anat Fort Trio, “The Limp”**

The Bley/Peacock/Motian trio can be understood as a major influence on the current
crop of piano trios, and one of the examples I’d point to is led by Israeli-born
pianist Anat Fort, with Gary Wang on bass and Roland Schneider on drums. This long-
running trio, which has recorded for ECM, recently released a fine album called 
Colour on Sunnyside Records. And one of the album’s most engaging pieces, “The Limp,”
was just outfitted with a video by Tsofit Dori.

“The Limp” has a serpentine bass ostinato and a deceptively simple melody, suggesting
a folk song. But Fort’s unpacking of the theme is precisely calibrated, at once 
delicate and determined. It’s a smart performance, and a good indication of what
_Colour _is all about. The Anat Fort Trio will be on tour on the east coast in July,
reaching Birdlend on July 17.

**Sam Newsome, “Urban Location”**

The soprano saxophone is more than a primary instrument for Sam Newsome. It also
suggests a pathway and a destination, a vehicle and a voice. If you’ve been following
Newsome’s work, you should be aware of his extensive forays into solo soprano saxophone
performance, memorably documented on albums like _Monk Abstractions_ (2007), _Blue
Soliloquy_ (2009) and _Sopranoville: Works for Prepared and Non-Prepared Soprano_(
2017). And so it goes with his new release, _Chaos Theory: Song Cycles For Prepared
Saxophone_, which dropped today.

[[

“Urban Location,” one of 15 new inventions on the album, typifies his approach here.
Newsome builds layer upon layer of sound, utilizing the soprano not only as a solo
instrument but also a percussive motor. (In his liner notes, Kurt Gottschalk explains
some of the technical details: “Newsome has augmented his soprano with plastic tubes
extending the expanse between neck and mouthpiece, elongating the waves emitting
from the horn and deepening its range by two octaves or more.”) The track feels 
like an action-packed miniature, which is only fitting: as the album’s title implies,
it belongs to a coherent whole.

![Edmar Castaneda, left, and Gregoire Maret will release 'Harp vs. Harp' on ACT 
Music on June 14.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wbgo.org/sites/wbgo/files/styles/medium/
public/201905/castaneda_maret_crop.png?w=640&ssl=1)

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