New Bojaira – Zorongo Blu (New Bojaira, 2019)
New Bojaira is a superb new ensemble featuring Spanish flamenco and flamenco-jazz musicians along with American jazz instrumentalists. Their debut album is Zorongo Blu.
Pianist and composer Jesús Hernández and American bassist Tim Ferguson put the band together by bringing in various New York-based musicians. The result is a powerful mix of modern jazz and flamenco stylings and rhythms along with various other influences.
Although flamenco jazz has been around for a few years now, most of the recordings feature instrumental pieces. On Zorongo Blu, however, many of the tracks feature the vocals of multifaceted flamenco singer, handclap percussionist and flute player Alfonso Cid, originally from Seville and currently based in New York City.
The highlights of the album are the exquisite interactions between the piano, bass, vocals, flugelhorn and percussion.
While on some songs there is exciting jazz and flamenco hybridization, the album also contains conventional jazz pieces dominated by saxophone.
The lineup includes Jesús Hernández on piano; Tim Ferguson on double bass; Mark Holen on drums, frame drum and darbuka; Alfonso Cid on vocals, flute and handclapping.
Guests include Randy Brecker on flugelhorn; Peter Brainin on soprano and tenor saxophone; and Sergio Gómez “El Colorao” on vocals.
Buy Zorongo Blu
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.