Ernesto 2020

Two of today’s most brilliant tenors, Michael Spyres and Lawrence Brownlee, strike sparks off each other as they celebrate the star tenors of Rossini’s time, such as Andrea Nozzari, Giovanni David, and Manuel García. Amici e Rivali – ‘Friends and Rivals’ – comprises arias, duets and trios from seven of the composer’s operas, including the ever-popular Il barbiere di Siviglia and the rarely heard Ricciardo e Zoraide. The ‘duelling tenors’ are joined by the effervescent Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught, the prize-winning young Spanish tenor Xabier Anduaga, I Virtuosi Italiani and conductor Corrado Rovaris.

Tetrahedron is the new chord-less trio led by Ernesto Cervini. Featuring two of Canada’s finest improvisers, Luis Deniz on Alto Saxophone and Rich Brown on Electric Bass, the band plays originals from all three musicians as well as funky arrangements of standards. It’s a groovy, energetic trip! The group has been performing extensively around southern Ontario for the past 4 years, and will be recording their debut album in April of 2019, with special guest, guitarist Nir Felder from NYC.

Brian Marsella is finally being recognized as one of the most talented and imaginative pianists of his generation. A veteran of countless bands including Banquet of the Spirits and many projects with John Zorn, his recent recordings have been some of the most exciting music coming out of the NYC jazz scene. Here he leads an octet to perform his scintillating compositions inspired by classical, jazz, and folkloric Brazilian music. Influenced by composers from Ernesto Nazareth, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Pixinguinha to Baden Powell and Egberto Gismonti, Marsella combines samba, bossa-nova, choro and more. The band is an all-star unit and the arrangements are red hot, filled with catchy dance grooves and plenty of soloistic fireworks. This is Marsella at his best. Essential!

Pulsing Afro-Latin roots and UK jazz combine on Grown, the latest album by London-based quintet Waaju, released via Olindo Records. Fusing dexterous hand-percussion, hypnotic guitar riffs and soaring melodies, Waaju connect a wide range of traditional musics percolating at different corners of the global soundscape yet with a distinctly of-the-moment and British jazz flavour…