Alfredo Rodriguez’s THE INVASION PARADE CD has him executing earthquakes of Cubanismo explosions on piano.
By Danny R. Johnson
LOS ANGELES – Cuban born superstar composer, arranger, songwriter and musician, Alfredo Rodriguez is a modern day musical Renaissance Man. Since coming on the scene in 2012 with his critically acclaim and successful Mack Avenue Records debut album, Sounds of Space, Rodriguez is at it again with his second Mack Avenue CD titled The Invasion Parade, which is loaded with the full flavor of contagious jazzy, hypnotic and danceable Afro-Cuban rhythms accentuated by rich choral harmonies.
The Invasion Parade was co-produced by Quincy Jones, Rodríguez’ champion and mentor, and featuring a superb ensemble that includes bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding and percussionist/vocalist Pedrito Martínez, and drummer/percussionist Henry Cole. The Invasion Parade comprises nine tracks including originals by Rodríguez as well as evergreens such as Guantanamera, Maria Teresa Vera’s Veinte Años, and Quizás, Quizás, Quizás.
Jazz pianist Rodriguez opens this compilation with his original composition The Invasion Parade like a burst of sunshine on a gloomy day. Imagine you are in Matanzas, on Cuba’s Atlantic coast and you are thrown a party by Rodriguez’s musical entourage, this is the music you will be dancing to with its hypnotic, raw power of Afro-Cuban rumba and salsa. Listen carefully and you will hear two wooden clave sticks begin to click out the essential fast moving one-two, one-two-three rumba beat while dynamic rhythms driven by Rodriguez on electric piano; the drummer and percussionists are driving on rhythms set up by the cata (a slit wooden tube played with sticks).
Rodriguez explains the concept for The Invasion Parade was born as part of the rich and vibrant history of the Cuban people.
The title The Invasion Parade refers to an annual tradition, a carnival parade in Santiago de Cuba commemorating the invasion of the Liberation Army that marked the end of Cuba’s War of Independence. In this blocks-long parade “not only comparsas [drumming and dance groups] participate but also all the people of Santiago, they come out and join playing whatever they have-drums, pots, whatever, and singing improvised lyrics,” explains Rodríguez. The term “invasion” in the title, he’s quick to note, “refers to the invasion of the streets by people who come out to participate and celebrate.”
Since coming to America in 2009, Alfredo Rodriguez has not been exactly quiet on the music scene – in fact he has taken it by storm! His initial recording Sounds of Space and his concert appearances emphasized his titanic technique and the exotic aspects of Cuban-jazz fusion. Unlike some of his Cuban jazz contemporaries of the day, Alfredo shows a difference in his strategy for conquest. Most of the contemporary Cuban jazz pianists/musicians on the scene spin heads with their blinding dexterity, and Rodriguez preferred mowing down his audiences with massive waves of sound. Rodriguez’s fellow musicians on the jazz circuit performances are like blizzards of notes; Rodriguez brings earthquakes, tidal waves, and other awesome phenomena more to mind as suitably demonstrated in The Invasion Parade.
28 year-old Rodriguez’s appeal to great players of all ages is evident in his rewrite of Guantanamera, which is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country’s most noted patriotic song . In 1966, a version by American vocal group The Sandpipers , based on an arrangement by Pete Seeger , became an international hit. The lyrics to the song, as written by José Fernández, are about a woman from Guantánamo , with whom he had a romantic relationship, and who eventually left him.
Alfredo’s modern to fast tempos in Guantanamera has done little to dampen his attack of this classic: Only a few seconds into the song with the rhythm section tickling softly in the background, Rodriguez pounds massive triplet chords that rise into a thunderous tremolo. Though he does switch to rapid but muscular runs later in the piece, he keeps returning to out-of-rhythm, ten-fingered chords punctuated by octaves and low blows in the bass. Like the great Cuban pianist and composer, Chucho Valdés, Alfredo is intoxicated with sound.
The Invasion Parade is Alfredo Rodriguez’s crowning achievement in composing and arrangement of musical selections with bravura virtuosity. Alfredo is an example of one young cat who followed in the footsteps of his father, but is blazing a trail all of his own.
Danny R. Johnson is San Diego County News’ Jazz and Pop Music Critic.
