SOUNDTRACK: ALFREDO-RODRÍGUEZ-Tiny Desk Concert #796 (October 18, 2018).
As this Tiny Desk Concert started, I was sure the main musician was the bassist. Given his fascinating outfit and his amazing bass playing, I was sure it was all about him. I was still more impressed with the bass even after learning that:
Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez gave our office audience a very quick lesson on why pianists from that island nation are so impressive: they treat the piano as the percussion instrument it is. Rodríguez immediately let fly with an intense flurry of notes that were as melodic as they were rhythmic.
But really, once Rodríguez starts playing you can tell that he is the composer and creator, even if guitarist/ bassist Munir Hossn is the exciting splash on the music. I didn’t mention that Hossn also plays guitar. It’s on a stand which he walks over to play in between amazing bass runs.
“Dawn” opens with some singing and a very simple rocking kind of feel. Then Hossn plays some wonderful guitar soloing notes while Rodríguez plays his complicated main lines. Meanwhile, Hossn has switched back to bass and is playing some amazing jazzy lines–fast, furious and at times really high notes. It’s pretty cool.
There’s a lengthy guitar solo (with Rodríguez clapping) before the main song resumes with two very distinctive styles of music.
The mash up of European lyricism and Afro-Cuban percussion is at the heart of the Cuban piano tradition and it is very present in the first song. It wasn’t long before Rodríguez dug deep into rapid-fire syncopation along with drummer Michael Olivera.
Listen to the expansive and lyrical exploration of the second song in this Tiny Desk set, “Bloom.”
It opens with a lovely piano melody twinkling along the keys. But it’s that great low-end and the simple drums (check out Olivera’s jacket) that takes it beyond “European lyricism.” There’s some wonderful interplay between the musicians and some great effects from Hossn on bass (how does he get those super high notes?).
The final song is called “Yemaya.” It opens quietly with Rodríguez singing before turning into a frenetic piano melody with Hossn’s intricate guitar pyrotechnics. The song is eight minutes long and features many components including a lengthy, beautiful (and impressive), piano-only section. But I still love watching Hossn (as he hat falls off) the most.
West Africa-based Yoruba spiritual tradition, commonly known as Santeria, infuses so much of Cuban daily life in music and Rodríguez closes with his take on the music dedicated to the Orisha Yemaya, the goddess of the ocean and all waters. The song’s melody is a derivation of the song associated to Yemaya and the Tiny Desk trio explores the rhythms of the melody, up to and including the sing-along at the end.
Every exposure to Cuban music presents an opportunity to walk alongside historical music figures and Santeria spirits alike.
Especially when it ends with an engaging sing along like this one does.
Actually they seem to be having so much fun that they refuse to end the set by playing one more wild coda to top everything off.
[READ: November 28, 2018] “Children are Bored on Sunday”
The December 3, 2018 issue of the New Yorker was an archival issue, meaning that every story was taken from an earlier issue. The range is something like 1975-2006, which is odd since the New Yorker dates back so much longer. Although the fiction pieces are at least from the 1940s and 1950s.
This story was written in 1948 and it is certainly of a certain time and place–specifically The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1948.
Emma is a young, single woman browsing the art gallery. She is excited to see a Botticelli, but as she nears the room, Alfred Eisenburg is standing there right in front of “The Three Miracles of Zenobius.” She liked Alfred and even flirted with him at a party “in some other year.”
At most other times she would have been pleased to see him, but she turned quickly back the way she had come. (more…)
