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| Miguel Zenón To Perform With Quartet At Jazz Standard  Miguel Zenón, one of the most exciting new voices in the jazz world, takes his most personal journey to date on Awake. This is the saxophonist's third Marsalis Music release. Zenón was voted the overall Best New Artist in the 2006 JazzTimes Critics Poll. Awake follows Zenón's 2004 Marsalis Music debut, Ceremonial, a program of original compositions, and 2005's Jíbaro, a bold reinterpretation of the rural music of Zenón's native Puerto Rico. Now, the alto saxophonist and his talented quartet plus special guests present a program that is sure to bring even greater accolades.The ten tracks chart what for Zenón has been a critical inner journey. "The focus is more personal and philosophical than Jíbaro, " he explains, "although that album also has a central theme. I wrote all of the music for Awake, and the individual compositions fell into an order around one of the older tunes, 'Awakening, ' which represents a period of personal growth I went through. What resulted was an awareness of my priorities, and how I want to portray myself as an artist." Awake is the strongest statement to date from Zenón, who has also been turning heads of late through his affiliations with the SF Jazz Collective, Guillermo Klein Y Los Gauchos and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. "I feel I'm growing as both a composer and a communicator of ideas, " Zenón notes. Awake captures that growth, as well as the passion, intellect and spirit that has become a Miguel Zenón trademark write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Jazz News :: home page |