Diego Pinera

On his album „Odd Wisdom“, drummer Diego Piñera, together with a stellar cast of musicians, united the groove and vibe ot three different worlds: The percussive variety of his Latin-American origin, the urge for constant renewal of his current home Berlin and the energy of the metropolis New York City where the music was recorded. And with saxophonist Donny McCaslin, guitarist Ben Monder and bassist Scott Colley, three representatives of the top of current US-American jazz join Piñera and form an absorbing exchance of extraordinary enegry, sound, complexity and suspense.

It was the awakening (Despertando) of a tinge of longing which inspired Diego Pinera to record this album. More than seventeen years after having left his native Uruguay, he re-visits his roots, the influences which first left their mark on him, and the legacy which made him the musician he is today.His choice of compositions is highly personal: tunes by Gato Barbieri and Ernesto Lecuona are clear cultural references to Argentina and Cuba (Pinera also studied in Havana). His own composition “Osvaldo por Nueve” is a homage to his first teacher and mentor Osvaldo Fattoruso. It is also Pinera’s modern take on the ‘candombe’ folklore tradition, popular in Uruguay. The track “Yakarito Terere” is personal too: a composition by his father, inspired by a memory from childhood, of regular excursions into the hinterland of Montevideo.

Of course, you have already heard all of that: sometime, somewhere, somehow. Of course, it is again a piano trio, the most traditional, most often used, but also the most common collection of band members grouped together in one category in jazz…