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| Revive Music Presents Drummer Zane Rodulfo - "Pathways"  Revive Music proudly announces the February 26 release of "Pathways", the rousing debut EP from drummer Zane Rodulfo. Accompanied by luminaries such as saxophonist Dayna Stephens, guitarist Nir Felder, guitarist Marvin Dolly, pianist Noble Jolley, bassist Luques Curtis and steel pan players Victor Provost and Earl Brooks Jr, Rodulfo takes the baton from his Trinidadian forebears and constructs a feast for the senses that explores a myriad of moods in the span of five expansive tracks that burst forth from a foundation of subtle rhythm and the abiding comfort of epic memory."Pathways" will be available for pre-order on February 1. A thesis project turned formal introduction, Rodulfo's inaugural release is the musical byproduct of the physical journey that took him from his boyhood home in Trinidad & Tobago to an undergraduate program at Oberlin College & Conservatory and ultimately to the hallowed streets, studios and stages of New York City, where he completed his Masters degree at New York University. Rodulfo presents a prismatic collection that is at once balm and tribute to his Caribbean roots that unfolds with all of the beauty and purpose of a love letter sealed in a bottle and shoved off at high tide toward home. Playing with a maturity and cohesiveness that belies the brevity of the track list, the EP is a sonic reclamation that finds Rodulfo collecting all things familiar from a well of sonic influences and evocative thoughts to construct a monument to the journey. "Pathways" bookends the highs and lows of dense, emotive melody with Yoruba traditions that proliferated during the Transatlantic slave trade and the elevated approach to steel pan perfected by Othello Molineaux, Leroy Williams and others. "For "Pathways", I explored and utilized some of what I heard growing up in Trinidad & Tobago and then in the States, where I moved in my late teens, " says Rodulfo, adding, "I decided to pay homage to Caribbean rhythms, motifs as well as more contemporary Afro-American, so-called Jazz, ideas and sounds." On "Pathways", Rodulfo creates an environment in which the steel pan is respected alongside the kit, as the serious rudiment that it has always been. Ditching the commercial calypso used to bait tourists, the band layers the bright percussive sound into the fabric of "Pathways" to illuminate each step and note it has taken Zane Rodulfo to get to this very moment, on the verge of a new journey to find his place in the musical pantheon as a professional drummer and composer with a song in his heart and a sick riddim in his hands. Playing the "so-called jazz" with a certain fire, Rodulfo travels several roads at once in his first attempt at achieving perfect balance; each cadence and melody infused with flashes of brilliance. Rising from the shadows of legendary pan players and jazz percussionists before him, Zane Rodulfo throws the sticks against the drum in an act of divination that marks his arrival and delivers a glimpse at pure magic. MORE ABOUT ZANE RODULFO: Originally from Trinidad & Tobago, drummer Zane Rodulfo is a graduate of the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied under the tutelage of legendary drummer Billy Hart, as well as New York University's prestigious Steinhardt School. McArthur Genius Award recipient Dafnis Prieto, esteemed drummer Billy Drummond and award-winning composer Gil Goldstein are just some of the prominent musicians Rodulfo studied with during his time at NYU. Additionally, Rodulfo has shared the stage and/or recorded with an impressive roster of jazz luminaries including Wes Anderson, Nicholas Payton, Brian Lynch, Orrin Evans, and Joe Lovano, among many others. Rodulfo continues to excel in both music and academia and plans to pursue doctoral studies in Ethnomusicology. write your comments about the article :: © 2016 Jazz News :: home page |