Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Boricua Jazz Genius


This just in: Puerto Rican jazz saxophonist Miguel Zenón has just won a MacArthur "genius" grant, to the tune of $500,000.

Can't get the embed link to work, but here's the link to the interview on CNN today where Zenón plays a sample.

I will play some of his music today on Azucar y Candela, 5:30-7:30 pm, on WXDU 88.7 FM or listen with iTunes via www.wxdu.org. I was going to feature some "next generation" Latin jazz anyway, inspired by Dafnis Prieto's visit. Zenón and his contemporaries are, to paraphrase the foundation, reinventing a new (Latin) jazz language for the 21st century.

1 comment:

Eric said...

I was pleased/surprised to see his name on the list of recipients this year. Past years' musicians are more "expected" contributors to the "art" of music: Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, etc. Miguel's music often gets praised for being really really math-y, but really emotional and tender at the same time. There is a bit of hometown backstory to his latest album: it was released on Branford's "Marsalis Music" label, and mixed at his own studio in North Durham.