#aruanortiz

[constantinmarburg-blog]

#namedropping in der #jazzzeit von #radiounerhoert #marburg? #nein, nur die Mitwirkenden der Sendung zu #intaktrecords am Sonntag: #stefanaeby, #jimblack, #donbyron, #geraldcleaver, #stephancrump, #juliuseastman, #jonathanfinlayson, #michaelformanek, #fredfrith, #davegisler, #maryhalvorson, #alexanderhawkins, #heinzherbert, #christophirniger, #kukuruzquartet, #ingridlaubrock, #angelikaniescier, #aruanortiz, #tomrainey, #kurtrosenwinkel, #chrisspeed, #corysmythe, #michistulz und, #yvestheiler. (hier: Radio Unerhört Marburg) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxNhV6Oj52h/?igshid=m9ak9tpwr960

[fantasticradiouk]

Forty-two-year-old Cuban-born, Brooklyn-based pianist, violist, and composer Aruan Ortiz has written music for jazz ensembles, orchestras, dance companies, chamber groups, and feature films. His work incorporates influences from contemporary classical music, Cuban-Haitian rhythms, and avant-garde improvisation; and consistently strives to break stylistic musical boundaries. He has been called “the latest Cuban wunderkind to arrive in the United States” by BET Jazz and "one of the most versatile and exciting pianists of his generation" by Downbeat Magazine. @elfuriosojazz #aruanortiz #cuba #haiti #piano #jazz (at Edgware Barnet, Edgware)

[realgregosby]

In #Miami with #AruanOrtiz #Cuba @averhoffjr #FranciscoMela #johnLockwood

[tommasocappellato]

Tonight at Michiko Studios 8pm #DonByron and I will be joined by great cuban pianist #AruanOrtiz (presso Michiko Rehearsal Studios)

[searchandrestore-blog1]

Behind The Series: Aruan Ortiz's Music & Architecture

Cuban pianist Aruan Ortiz has been leading a unique series each month at Zinc Bar, tonight will be the last one but you should absolutely head down there to hear him play with the likes of Oliver Lake and Henry Grimes. 

The series is spontaneously inspired by architecture, both purposeful and natural. It's a simple idea and limitation that makes for some tremendous music. Check out what Ortiz has to play and say about it below and enjoy the show!

The Music & Architecture series makes it's influences known in the title, but how literal is the description? Where did this idea come from?

It's is about my interpretation of how to translate into improvisation different patterns and forms from ancient architectonic structures that I always admired, and how I convert those forms in a rhythmic-melodic, formal language.

For me it's like composing in real time, thinking about how to incorporate non-musical materials while complementing what we do in musical improvisation.

I got the idea mainly from Iannis Xenakis' book, 'Music & Architecture', where he explained his life and his approach to music, his work with the famous architect Le Corbusier, and his fascination for Concrete music. However my purpose in putting together this series was to explore concepts unusual to jazz improv, like how we could improvise, compose, and  interact with other musicians using self-similar parameters like fractals, or how to conceive phrases as a reflected shapes on a surface (such as water), how to expand and variate forms to generate bigger forms, and how create a theme that fits within another theme and within another theme, in a spiral way. It's quite a challenge but I'm getting there!

  What have you learned from doing a regular series with different collaborators?

I have had such a great time working on this adventurous project, from the composing process, finding ways to express the essence of every concert, to how to transmit a specific script -not any score- to the musicians, even though I did a lot of writing to understand musically the topics I have chosen for the series. Since all of the musicians are very creative on their own, it was surprisingly nice to see how - once I explained the concept of the show to them - they just jumped in and contributed to the music with their natural creativeness and took it further. That was the biggest learning experience during this series, not to think in notes, or chords or bebop leads, or AABA, just create a new path with each concert from a non-music related topic. It's so exciting being able to share this vision with some of the people I musically admire on the scene, like David Gilmore, Nasheet Waits, Fay Victor, Darius Jones, Val Jeanty, Rudy Royston, Drew Gress, Sam Newsome, etc., and of course the greats Henry Grimes, Don Byron, Andrew Cyrille, because sharing this information with them has helped me to understand that there is not one approach to music, jazz or improvisation, the language of music and art crosses every stylistic barrier.

I remember our first concert in the series, dedicated to Fractals in Nature, with Marika Hughes, Val Jeanty, Darius and Rudy Royston, I wrote one tune called Fractal Sketches, subdivided in several parts with one melody that expands through a triangular intervalic motion, generating similar structures from it, and improvisation on each section. Well, we made the entire concert with that tune only. It was very challenging but amazing how it worked out and how the musicians understood the script very well. It was a very nice performance.

  When did you first experience the idea of a musical community?

Here in New York. The greatness of the music scene in this city is how many micro-musical communities you can find, and how the musicians gravitate toward those communities. I try to keep myself open and absorb and be aware of how many talented musicians there are in this city, and how much I can learn from the opportunity of talking to them, hanging with them, or listening to their shows. I have been lucky being close to people that have helped me to keep confident in what i do, and support how I conceive the music, so I strive to keep making the music my channel of self-expression and gaining experience from people whose playing I love. That's one of the most fascinating growing process of any musician, I guess. 

  This Thursday's show features a collaboration including Oliver Lake and Henry Grimes. Do you feel there's any difference in langauge between artists from different generations & eras?

Not at all. Playing with pioneers like Oliver and Henry, Andrew Cyrille, Francisco Mora-Catlett, to me, some of the most creative musical minds of their generation, makes my music more hip and fresh; those cats are so open minded, that the concept of art form fits perfectly into the music they create. You can hear in their playing their unique artistic approach, the foundation of jazz and the folk elements that this music is founded on; their knowledge is so vast that their playing become totally timeless, styleless and ageless, it could easily be in the 1970's or in 2300's, because knowing the science of the music like they do, makes their music not fashionable, and it doesn't try to be, it lasts for what it is with no pretensions. Their music is real as it is. That's why artists like Bjork, High Priest from Antipop Consortium, or the techno DJ guru Carl Craig have called them to collaborate with them. So I feel that I'm the dated one here, in order to keep myself in a growth process I would love to continue playing with them.     

What's the most impressive building you've ever been inside?

La Alhambra, so far, I can't describe its beauty and form. I got lucky I was there with the great Moroccan singer Amina Alaoui, who is an erudite in the art of Al-Andaluz culture, and I have to tell you it blowed my mind completely, how many forms, textures and abstract language you can find there. This is one of the most incredible buildings in western hermisfere. La Sagrada Familia is another one, and the figure of Antonio Gaudí and his so called "Modernism" always have been a source of inspiration to my music.   

What's the most impressive natural architecture you've encountered?

Every shape, form and texture I can find in nature impresses me, from mountains, shores, waves, fires, flowers, bees, trees, people, etc . It's about the self-order you find in nature, how everything fits into their natural space, and they have their natural role. The beauty of nature surpasses any level of imagination, and the art of contemplation gives you the perception of how infinite is its beauty.

What excites you about the future??

I have several projects that I have been working on lately: two big scores expected to be premiered after traveling to Cuba, to do some research on folk music, as well as finishing  Mark Weinstein's album that I'm producing, going back to the studio with my quartet after our European tour this fall, and of course to continue exploring further concepts about the common nexus between improvisation, rhythm, composition and architecture as a structure that holds all these elements together creating a big musical unit.

Also I'm looking forward to the Aruán Ortiz & Michael Janisch Quintet Banned in London tours on the west coast this January featuring Greg Osby, Clarence Penn, Michael Rodriguez, and the tour for Music & Architecture Series in 2014-2015.