Gendrickson Mena & The New Cuban Experience Blue Note Milano, June 8th, 2007 – 9 p.m. Review By: Eva Simontacchi Pictures: Mario Livraghi

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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