Cru Seu Jorge

At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, all roads led to Paris. The Exposition Universelle drew great crowds, Hemingway and Kandinsky settled there, Proust wrote À la Recherche… and Cocteau La Machine infernale, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes revolutionised dance, and Debussy, Satie and Stravinsky caused scandal. Recording together in duo for the first time, violinist Manon Galy and pianist Jorge González Buajasán capture the flavour of that time of renewal. With this eloquent interpretation of sonatas and other pieces by Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Milhaud, they offer a glimpse of the audacity and modernity that characterised French music during those years.

The French oboist Gabriel Pidoux, voted ‘Instrumental Soloist of the Year’ at the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2020, has made a name for himself in both early and modern repertories. He now records his first solo album, accompanied by the pianist Jorge González Buajasan. It presents the works of two female and three male composers, beginning with Robert Schumann’s Three Romances, a masterpiece of chamber music with oboe, which Gabriel Pidoux has decided to juxtapose with the Three Pieces of Leopold Wallner (1847-1913), magnificent works which have never been recorded. Also on the programme is a transcription of Clara Schumann’s Three Romances . ‘These are pieces from the heart, which set the Romantic tone’, writes Gabriel Pidoux.

In its review of pianist Shai Maestro’s ECM leader debut The Dream Thief, All About Jazz spoke of “a searching lyrical atmosphere, emotional eloquence and communal virtuosity that serves the music.” All of which also applies to Human, where Maestro’s outgoing, highly-communicative band with fellow Israeli Ofri Nehemya on drums and Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder becomes a quartet with the inspired addition of US trumpeter Philip Dizack. Shai’s expansive pianism is well-matched by Dizack’s alert, quick-thinking approach to improvising. And, as ever, Maestro is taking the music forward while also respecting its sense of tradition. Near the end of a programme comprised almost entirely of Maestro originals, exploring a range of temperaments, the quartet offers its own take on Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood”, while Shai’s tune “Hank and Charlie” pays tribute to the musical empathy shared by the late Hank Jones and Charlie Haden. Human was recorded at Studios la Buissonne in the South of France in February 2020, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Flautist/saxophonist Jorge Pardo is a leading proponent of nuevo flamenco. On his fifth release, he pushes the envelope, presenting jazz standards and pop alongside more traditional compositions. "Caravan" lends itself well to rhythmic interpretations, but the arrangement degenerates midway into a dark-toned muddle. "'Round Midnight" and "Michelle," presented simply with flute and guitar, fare better, coming across as pleasant, "light jazz" renditions. The balance of the compositions are mostly by Pardo, and make his case more persuasively.

With Uma Elmo, his fifth album as a leader for ECM, Danish guitarist Jakob Bro presents a new trio featuring Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy. Astonishingly, given the trio’s musical synergy, the first time these three musicians ever performed together was for the album’s sessions at the Swiss Radio studio in Lugano, with ECM founder Manfred Eicher producing. Uma Elmo reaffirms the observation about Bro’s work by London Jazz News that “there is no hurry to this music, but there is great depth.” Among the album’s highlights is opener “Reconstructing a Dream,” a darkly lyrical reverie.

When Jorge Bolet died in October 1990 the world lost one of its last ‘great Romantics’. Spirituality, a luxuriant tonal palette, a real sense of architecture, breadth, grandeur, all allied to a prodigious technique – these were just some of the qualities that informed his playing. Now, for the first time, Decca collects all the recordings he made for the label, from 1977 to 1990. Released for the first time and included in this set, is his last recording, a selection of Chopin’s Nocturnes and the Berceuse, recorded just seven months before his death.

It is a time for silence, the suns and moons that can be counted, for the remembrance of the gods, for the mystery and knowledge… This is a pure Jorge Reyes pre-Hispanic musical experience. Drawing from the rich cultures of the Mayas, Toltecs, Olmecs, Aztecs and more this is a powerful look at the mystical, traditional music modes and rites that are Jorge's birth right. This release will transport the listener to his famous concerts at the time-worn pyramids and ancient overgrown cities throughout Mexico. Instruments include clay pots, turtle shell, ocarinas, seed pods, log drum, rainstick, cocoon shakers, stones, and more.

In 1996, the young violinist Jorge Jimnez heard Bach's Goldberg Variations for the first time in Glen Gould's famous version on a simple cassette recorder. Since then, this wonderful composition has not let him go. At first he resigned himself to the fact that as a violinist he would never be able to play this work. But over time he realised that several voices can sound at the same time on the violin, as Johann Sebastian Bach exemplifies in his six famous partitas and sonatas for solo violin. Finally, he set to work and began to transcribe one of the most complicated piano pieces of the Baroque into a piece for solo violin.