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| Manuel Valera's 'Vientos'  Billboard magazine predicted that the young, NYC-based pianist Manuel Valera is "destined to play a role in the future of jazz", and that future is now. As his brilliant new album 'Vientos' (Anzic Records) hit stores last week, it was also the most added jazz album at college radio. Combining elements of jazz and classical music reminiscent of the so-called "third stream" of the 1960s, Valera reaches a "fourth stream" on 'Vientos' through the Latin music influences that also inform the album. At times, he transcends genre altogether.Valera, who played a sold-out show at The Jazz Standard earlier this month, has just confirmed two nights at the new NYC jazz venue Cachaca for August 17 and 18. He will lead a quintet for those dates, including Ernesto Simpson on drums (Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker), and Joel Frahm on saxophone (Brad Mehldau, Jane Monheit), both of whom play on 'Vientos, ' plus Armando Gola (Gonzalo Rubacala, Arturo Sandoval) on bass, with special guest Avishai Cohen on trumpet. Manuel Valera was born in Havana, Cuba and studied European music and classical saxophone before moving to the United States at the age of fourteen. When he arrived in the U.S. he found two new means of expression - the piano, and the English language - teaching himself both simultaneously. In 2004, he released his debut album 'Forma Nueva, ' which Jazz Times called "one of the most promising piano recording debuts of the new millennium to date." In 2005, Valera earned an ASCAP Young Composers Award, and a New Works Commission from Chamber Music America the following year. Twice, in 2004 and 2006, he took second place in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, FL. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |