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Gendrickson Mena & The New Cuban Experience
Blue
Note Milano, June 8th, 2007 – 9 p.m.
Review By:
Eva Simontacchi
Pictures: Mario Livraghi
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The concert hall of the
Blue Note
in Milano is incredibly packed with people. All these people have come to listen
to the music of
Gendrickson
Mena, thirty four years old, composer and arranger, trumpet and
flugelhorn player, piano player and keyboard player. Brilliant in the creation of
his music and in the arrangements of his projects,
Gendrickson
Mena is able to merge with excellent results the sound of his Cuban
origins with the research of new energies that are also partly drawn from the musicians
that accompany him in this journey. Gifted with an extraordinary intensity and great
energy,
Gendrickson Mena is a musician endowed with rare sensitivity
and generosity. This evening
Gendrickson
Mena will be accompanied on stage by
Mario Zara
(piano),
Giorgio Di Tullio (drums), Ezio Salfa (bass), Mauro Capitale
(alto, tenor and soprano sax), Jorge Gonzales (percussions), Hidelvis
Cabrera (percussions). The project "Gendrickson
Mena & The New Cuban Experience" already produced an album in
2003, "Asi Son Mis Sentimientos" (Ultrasound
Records), and this evening we will also hear some new pieces that will be included
in the next album of "Gendrickson
Mena & The New Cuban Experience", that will probably be released
next Winter.
Gendrickson
Mena was born in La Havana, Cuba on May 31st
1973. He is a trumpet professor, instrumentalist
and arranger graduated at the prestigious Escuela provincial de Musica "Amadeo Roldan"
in 1992. He participates to the "Plaza latin
Festival" in Cuba in 1990 and
1991. In 1994
he becomes a band member of the "Sonora Caribegna" Orchestra, conducted by
his father,
Pedro
Mena, guitar player, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Under the
direction of his father, and following his example and his guide,
Gendrickson
Mena starts working on the arrangements of the orchestra, apart
from playing trumpet and keyboards, and he performs in the most important venues
of the country. During the same year he starts teaching at the "Paulita Conception"
Conservatory, and becomes a member of the Cuban Symphonic Orchestra. With
the "Sonora Caribegna" Orchestra he participates to the recording of an album
and to various TV and radio programs. He participates to very many festivals, among
which we name: the Latin American Festivals in Milano, Viareggio and Jesolo, the
International Festival "Evento Suono", the Jazz Festival in Montreux – where he
plays with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Julio Barreto and Miguel "Anga" Diaz.
At the Burghausen Jazz Festival in Germany he is invited to play by the singer
Chaka Khan. He participates to the International Seixaljazz Festival
in Portugal, at the World Music Festival Verden Norden in Oslo, Norway, at the International
Jazz Festival April Jazz in Helsinki, Finland, and at the Baltic Jazz Festival in
Salzau, Germany. He also participates to the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.
He collaborated with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ivan Graziani, Vinicio Capossela,
David Murray and Tony Martinez. He collaborated with various projects,
recording in studio with the LoGreco brothers, Raffaella Arzani, and following
the musical production and the arrangements of the first album of the Cuban drummer-percussionist
Calixto Oviedo. At present he is collaborating as arranger and instrumentalist
in various projects in studio and in tour, and he is also teaching and holding master
classes, labs and lessons of jazz improvisation and musical theory.
The
concert begins at 9:00 p.m. and the first piece is "Descargando"
(Gendrickson
Mena), rich in sound and colours. The presence of the wind instruments
is predominant, and
Gendrickson Mena
(trumpet) and Mauro Capitale (sax) send their energy to the audience,
which is totally immersed in a warm and embracing atmosphere, loaded with energy
and rhythm. At the end of the piece there is an exchange of measures (4 x 4) between
the two percussionists, and the song ends in an explosion of sound and rhythm. The
second piece is "Asi" (Gendrickson
Mena), and the talented group-leader allows us to enjoy the warm voice of
his flugelhorn, performing a virtuoso solo.
Mario Zara,
at the piano, is a very elegant and refined musician. Jorge Gonzales and
Hidelvis Cabrera add rhythm, colors and dynamics to the ensemble. It is a
pleasure to listen to them, but it's a greater pleasure to be able to observe them:
while they play the percussions they move with feline elegance, endowing the hypnotic
rhythms they play with a roundness of movements that enchants.
The
concert goes on with "Asi Son Mis Sentimientos",
the song that gives the name to the album that was issued in
2003 by Ultrasund records. ("Asi Son Mis
Sentimientos" –
Gendrickson Mena & The new Cuban Experience). In this song, where the
musical sensitivity of Gendrickson – "Puchy"
for his friends – expresses itself once again by means of the alluring voice of
the flugelhorn, the melody is sustained by a quick rhythm. The audience warmly welcomes
the whole project, partly because
Gendrickson
Mena meets the favor of the audience thanks to his likeableness,
naturalness and spontaneousness, and partly thanks to the warmth and energy that
all the musicians sparingly infuse into the music.
The
fourth song is a jazz standard: "Blue In Green",
that Gendrickson dedicates as a tribute to great Miles Davis.
During the various solos in this piece, we have the opportunity to witness the skill
of all the musicians starting from the wind instruments –
Gendrickson
Mena is now playing the trumpet with mute, and Mauro Capitale
is playing the tenor sax – to Ezio Salfa, on the bass,
Giorgio Di
Tullio at the drums,
Mario Zara
at the piano, and to the percussionists Jorge Gonzales and Hidelvis Cabrera,
that after having played their solos separately, merged and played another solo
together, arousing great enthusiasm in the concert hall. At the end of the song
Gendrickson
Mena plays a cadenza with the trumpet and closes, since he played
the theme at the beginning but didn't play a solo. The concert goes on with "My
Colours" (G. Mena), a new song that will be included in the next album
of Gendrickson
Mena & The New Cuban Experience. This time the main instrument is
the flugelhorn. The next song is by
Mario Zara
(piano player, arranger and composer). It is a beautiful and intense ballad, and
its title is "A Kiss Forever".
Gendrickson
Mena plays the theme with the flugelhorn. At the end of the ballad
all the musicians leave the stage, and
Gendrickson
Mena goes to the grand piano on the left-hand side of the stage
and performs "Chan Chan" by Francisco Repilado,
in a contemporary jazz version. He plays the piano in a very surprising way, his
energy is irrepressible. He plays with an incredible agility and skill. The concert
time is already through, but the audience wants more, and the management of the
Blue Note
allows more time for the concert. The evening ends one hour later than expected
with "Tribute To Miles" and "Caravan",
after all the musicians have rejoined their leader on stage. During the concert
Gendrickson
Mena also surprised the audience with various moments of exhilarating
scat singing.
We will observe this promising trumpet player very closely because he will
surely have something important to say in the next few years; he is already having
his say with great skill and sensitivity, and the audience is with him. We wish
him an even greater success!
"Great musician, wonderful person with a great jazz feeling!" (Gianni
Cazzola – drummer)
"I was surprised by the artistic and stylistic musical maturity of this young
artist that merges an incredible technical skill on the instrument with a lyric-melodic
inspiration which is rare in the Italian jazz scene. It has been a privilege to
play with him." (Roberto Cipelli – piano, arranger, composer)
"Gendrickson
Mena is a very gifted musician and composer, blessed with a rich sensitivity
and rare intensity and generosity." (Eva
Simontacchi – Jazz vocalist)
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Publishing Date: 02/11/2007
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