SOCRATES GARCIA LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA

SHADOWS OF TOMORROW

Summit Records

This album is a musical meeting place.  Socrates Garcia offers it to the public as a space where the soul of Dominican culture and Afro-Caribbean music meet. It’s a mixture of cultures, creativity and contemporary jazz arranged for a Latin orchestra.  Garcia has composed and arranged every song.  These compositions reflect his personal landscape, including tradition, current-day politics and life memories.

They open with “AG’s Resting Face …Scary!” that is a medium-tempo, percussive driven arrangement.  The song is dedicated lovingly to Garcia’s daughter and her playful, sharp-edged stare that can look at you in such a way that it interrupts your peace. The solo of Wil Swindler on alto saxophone is outstanding. When Clay Jenkins enters on trumpet, he plays tenderly at first, before the percussion kicks in and then his trumpet dances along with energy.

On a tune called “Sultry Villa Mella Twilights” Socrates Garcia celebrates the spirit and joy found in the Dominican.  This is more jazz than contemporary, soaked in percussion rhythms that breathe ritual and culture. Here is a twilight prayer for the ancestral voices that echo in the trees, and the drums that play a big part in this arrangement.  They speak to me.

An original composition called “Brad’s Dreamy Samana Night” was written when Garcia found himself under the stars in the Dominican Republic town of Samaná. For some reason it reminds me of horseback rider, galloping down the beach.  Garcia was inspired by the trumpet of Brad Goode, who pulled out his horn and filled the quiet night with a flurry of notes. His song made Garcia go compose this tune.

A song titled “Illusions, Delusions … A Glimmer of Hope” begins in a very bluesy way. This is actually a suite.  The first part of the suite is called: “Mov 1: The Wizard’s Wicked Charm” and features the rich sound of Eduardo Moncado’s baritone saxophone.  The moods change in this arrangement, like the tempos.

On “Mov 11. Liars and Fools” the trombone solo of Paul McKee is dynamic and beautiful.

Throughout this album, the percussionists and drummer, Wanna Cuesta, keep the tempos and rhythms locked tightly.  Garcia arranges the horns with tight harmonics and punchy, memorable brass lines. Every tune is well-written, danceable, and stuffed with Latin culture.

His talented orchestra members are:  Socrates Garcia, composer/arranger/conductor; RHYTHM SECTION: Dana Landry & Manuel Tejada, piano; Erik Applegate, bass; Alfredo Balcacer, guitar; Wanna Cuesta, trap drums. PERCUSSION: Pablito ‘drums’ Peña, Felix ‘Abuelo’ Garcia, Daniel Berroa, & Miguel Montas (timbales). WOODWINDS: Wil Swindler, alto & soprano saxophones; Andrew Janak, alto saxophone; Don Aliquo & David Bernot, tenor saxophone; Eduardo Moncada, baritone saxophone/clarinet; Drew Zaremba, flutes; Javier Vinasco Guzman, clarinets. TRUMPETS/FLUGELHORNS: Brad Goode, Miles Roth, Shawn Williams, Jeff Jarvis & Clay Jenkins; TROMBONES: Jonathan Bumpus, Zach Rich, Tom Call, & Gary Mayne on bass trombone. GUEST TROMBONE SOLOIST: Paul McKee.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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