Miguel Zenón imagines pre-Columbian histories in Música De Las Américas — album review

The Puerto Rican-born alto saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón has long explored the cross-currents and common musical roots between North and Latin America. His latest album, Música De Las Américas, focuses on pre-colonised America and the aftermath of colonialism. In essence it is a study of cause and effect. “What was this part of the world like before 1491?”, he asks on the sleeve. “And imagine if this encounter had never taken place”.

The instruments for Zenón’s imagination are the razor-sharp lines of his alto sax and the fluid interplay of his tight-knit quartet; only the drummer has changed since the band came together in 1999. Motifs are eloquently stated by the leader’s lone sax, moods intensify as rhythms surge and complex improvised narratives grip.

The album starts with the upbeat intensity and interlocking rhythms of “Taínos y Caribes”, named after the two indigenous societies that dominated the Caribbean before the conquistadors arrived.

As the piece unfolds at speed, bass and drums weave a complex web, piano and sax add fine-tuned lines and jagged unison melodies erupt on cue. Next, “Navegando (Las Estrellas Nos Guían)” moves from Luis Perdomo’s sparkling piano jazz to plena group Los Pleneros De La Cresta’s percussion and vocal heft. Then Haitian percussionist Paoli Mejías adds a vodou twist to the impressive slow burn of “Opresión y Revolución”.

Elsewhere the melody of the stately “Imperios” has distant Aztec roots and “Bámbula” opens with percussionist Victor Emmanuelli extemporising on a habanera beat. But overall, these traditional elements are subsumed within the pointed lines, harmonic subtleties and intricate rhythmic grid of a contemporary modernist set.

The album ends with the mood-piece “América, El Continente” and “Antillano”, fuelled by Daniel Díaz’s congas and the sensuous thrust of Latin dance. The first delivers a pensive solo from double bass, the second adds odd-meter flourishes while bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Henry Cole flow freely and follow the form.

★★★★☆

‘Música De Las Américas’ is released by Miel Music