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Miguel Zenón

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Miguel Zenón

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Saxophonist, composer

Puerto Rican-born saxophonist Miguel Zenón plays music influenced by the rhythms and forms of the island where he grew up. Mixtures of jazz and Latin American roots music have a long history, but Zenón has taken them in a new direction. He has tried to avoid stereotypes of Latin jazz music and musicians. "Fusion's not a dirty word to me," he told Bob Young of the Boston Herald. "But ‘Latin jazz’ is. I'd rather not be labeled that." In 2008 the originality of Zenón's music was recognized with a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, popularly known as a "genius grant."

Zenón was born in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His mother, Nancy, was a single parent, and his sister and aunt helped raise him. Zenón grew up in Santurce, a tough but musically rich district of the capital that had originally been settled by freed African slaves. His first musical experiences came in a school choir, where a friend directed him toward a local music teacher named Ernesto Vigoreaux. His first lessons were in classical music, and mostly on piano. But Vigoreaux gave him a saxophone so that he would be able to find a place in a local marching band, and when Zenón was accepted at San Juan's Escuela Libre de Música and had to pick a second instrument other than piano, he started to work seriously on the sax.

The school's curriculum focused on the classics, but Zenón had plenty of opportunities to hear and perform other music. There were Puerto Rican street musicians, playing the percussion music called plena, or singers of música jibara, the often ballad-like music of rural Puerto Rico. Zenón heard and liked contemporary jazz by musicians like saxophonist John Coltrane. And he played popular dance music so that he could continue his musical studies. "In Puerto Rico I played in all kinds of bands that played salsa and merengue," he told Ed Morales of Newsday. "That's how I saved the money to come to the U.S. We used to play El Gran Combo tunes. Half the band was my friends—we were around 15—and the other half was my friend's father and his friends from the hospital where he worked. They were all, like, 50."

Zenón briefly considered a career as an engineer, but he put the money he earned from dance gigs together with a scholarship from the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Festival and was able to enroll at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Switching from classical to jazz and with funds short, Zenón struggled at first, but he experienced the school's diverse musical environment as a jolt of energy. Soon he was excelling academically, winning the Berklee Best Scholarship Award and several other monetary prizes. Zenón ventured off campus into Boston's competitive jazz scene and gained professional experience with the rock-influenced Either/Orchestra big band.

Graduating from Berklee in 1998, Zenón won a scholarship at the top-flight Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He has been based in New York since that time. Zenón earned a master's degree in saxophone performance in 2001, performing in a wide variety of bands and small jazz combos. He didn't wait long to begin his career as a group leader, releasing his debut album, Looking Forward, on the Fresh Sounds New Talent label in 2002. The album, fusing Latin, jazz, and classical influences, won top-ten-of-the-year honors from both the New York Times and TomaJazz.

Zenón quickly gained attention beyond the New York club scene. He went on tour around the United States and Europe as leader of his own quartet, and in 2003 he performed in Africa under the auspices of the U.S. State Department's Jazz Ambassadors program. That year he began an ongoing job as a saxophone instructor at New York's New School, and he has held visiting instructorships at other institutions, including the University of Manitoba and Le Moyne College. He became one of the first players signed to the Marsalis Music label founded by star saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and his sophomore album, Ceremonial, appeared on that label in 2004. The year 2004 also marked the beginning of his participation in the SF Jazz Collective, a rotating San Francisco jazz octet with performance and educational aspects.

The following year, Zenón released his Jibaro album, originally commissioned by the New York State Council for the Arts. The album clearly demonstrated how different Zenón was from other Latin American jazz musicians, even as he stayed in close touch with his Puerto Rican roots. The music had a folklore flavor, drawing on the string sounds of música jibara, and was sophisticated in its structure: Zenón made use of numerical relationships in Puerto Rican music, such as the ten-syllable line of the décima ballad form or the proportions of various Puerto Rican drum patterns. Although Zenón's mathematical training ended in high school, many writers, as well as the musician himself on occasion, noted mathematical and geometric structures in his music.

Jibaro won a wide variety of best-recording-of-the-year nods from newspapers, magazines, and Web sites, in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. Zenón topped the critics' poll in the prestigious jazz magazine Downbeat in the Alto Saxophonist Deserving Wider Recognition category. He got that recognition in 2008 when he received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, a no-strings-attached $500,000 award, payable over five years and designed to support individuals of exceptional originality, dedication, and self-direction. "This young musician and composer is at once reestablishing the artistic, cultural, and social tradition of jazz while creating an entirely new jazz language for the 21st century," noted the Foundation when making the award.

With the award and a Guggenheim fellowship in hand, Zenón headed back to Puerto Rico. His plan was to investigate the plena tradition and issue an album based on what he found, and also perhaps to use some of the MacArthur grant money on a series of free concerts. Zenón's 2008 album Awake continued to broaden his musical horizons, drawing on Afro-Caribbean bomba rhythms but also incorporating such influences as Spanish flamenco guitar music, free jazz, jazz-rock fusion, Gregorian chant that Zenón heard while flipping through television channels, and the multilayered narrative of the James Joyce novel Ulysses. "My musical preoccupation has always revolved around not getting ‘stuck,’ not doing the same thing … again and again," Zenón told Tomas Peña of Jazz.com. Still young for a jazz star, Zenón is already widely recognized as a true original.

Selected discography

As leader
Looking Forward, Fresh Sounds New Talent, 2002.
Ceremonial, Marsalis Music, 2004.
Jibaro, Marsalis Music, 2005.
Awake, Marsalis Music, 2008.

As sideman
David Sanchez, Melaza, Columbia, 2001.
Mingus Big Band, I Am Three, 2003.
SF Jazz Collective, Nonesuch, 2005.

Sources
Periodicals
Boston Herald, May 15, 2004, p. 26.
Newsday, April 28, 2008.
New York Times, August 19, 2000, p. B11; December 4, 2008, p. C8.

Online
"About the SF Jazz Collective," SF Jazz Collective (San Francisco), http://www.sfjazz.org/SFJAZZCollective/2008/index.asp (November 29, 2008).
"Biography," Miguez Zenón Official Web site, http://www.miguelzenon.com (November 29, 2008).
"In Conversation with Miguel Zenón," Jazz.com, http://www.jazz.com/features-and-interviews/2008/3/25/in-conversation-with-miguel-zenn (November 29, 2008).
"2008 MacArthur Fellows: Miguel Zenón," MacArthur Foundation, http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.4537297 (November 29, 2008).
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Miguel Zenón

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  • Genres: Jazz

Biography

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miguel Zenón dug Coltrane in high school but didn't get serious about a career in jazz until attending the Berklee School of Music. While at Berklee, he hooked up with drummer Bob Moses, who invited him to play with the Either/Orchestra, giving the saxophonist his first professional experience. Awards and grants lead to Zenón pursuing and earning a Masters in Saxophone Performance in 2001 from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He played live and in the studio as a sideman to Charlie Haden, the David Murray Big Band, Ray Barretto, and David Sanchez, and stepped out on his own with Looking Forward in 2002. The debut album fused jazz, Latin, and classical influences, and earned positive reviews at home and abroad. In 2003, he received a warm welcome on his first European tour, and got right back to recording when he returned home. His sophomore effort, Ceremonial -- produced by Branford Marsalis and released on his Marsalis Music label -- hit the shelves in early 2004. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi
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Miguel Zenón

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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2008)
Miguel Zenón

Miguel Zenon, moers festival 2009
Background information
Birth name Miguel A. Zenón
Born December
Genres Jazz
Instruments Alto saxophone
Website miguelzenon.com
Members
Luis Perdomo, Hans Glawischnig, Henry Cole

Miguel Zenón (born December 30, 1976) is an alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader.

Contents

Biography

Multiple Grammy Nominee and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón represents a select group of musicians who have masterfully balanced and blended the often-contradictory poles of innovation and tradition. Widely considered as one of the most groundbreaking and influential saxophonists of his generation, he has also developed a unique voice as a composer and as a conceptualist, concentrating his efforts on perfecting a fine mix between Latin American Folkloric Music and Jazz.

His latest recording, Alma Adentro (Marsalis Music, 2011), is a tribute to The Puerto Rican Songbook. On it he arranges and explores the music of five legendary Puerto Rican composers: Bobby Capó, Tite Curet Alonso, Pedro Flores, Rafael Hernández, and Sylvia Rexach (whom he considers “the George Gershwins, Cole Porters and Jerome Kerns of Puerto Rican song”). The recording features his longtime working quartet of pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Henry Cole, plus a ten piece woodwind ensemble orchestrated and conducted by close friend and collaborator Guillermo Klein. This groundbreaking project both honors the music of these masters while at the same time exposing their music to new audiences. Alma Adentro was chosen as the Best Jazz Recording of 2011 by iTunes and NPR, and was Nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenón studied classical saxophone at the Escuela Libre de Música in Puerto Rico before receiving a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from Berklee College of Music, and a master’s degree in Jazz Performance at Manhattan School of Music. Zenón’s more formal studies, however, are supplemented and enhanced by his vast and diverse experience as a sideman and collaborator. Throughout his career he has divided his time equally between working with older jazz masters and working with the music’s younger innovators—irrespective of styles and genres. The list of musicians Zenón has toured and/or recorded with includes: Charlie Haden, David Sánchez, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, Guillermo Klein y los Guachos, The Mingus Big Band, Bobby Hutcherson and Steve Coleman. He has also participated in recent projects with Adam Cruz, Antonio Sánchez, Jason Linder, Miles Okazaki, Kenny Werner, David Gilmore and Aaron Goldberg.

He is a founding member of the groundbreaking SFJAZZ Collective, a group whose past and current members include Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, Brian Blade, Nicholas Payton, Dave Douglas, and Eric Harland. In 2012, Zenón’s association with SFJAZZ will further expand to include his new role as resident artistic director along with Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Regina Carter and John Santos.

Zenón’s six recordings as a leader (including the above mentioned Alma Adentro) represent not only his growth as a musician, but also his ability to constantly evolve and reinvent himself as a conceptualist and producer.

His debut CD, Looking Forward (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2002), represents a snapshot of the very eclectic musical interests of the then 24 year old musician, and was selected by the New York Times as the number one “alternative” jazz recording of 2002.

His second recording as a leader, Ceremonial (Marsalis Music, 2004), was described by All About Jazz as a “ head on crash of Latin, Jazz and Classical traditions--modern Jazz at it’s very best, ” and garnered unanimous critical praise and recognition both within and outside the jazz world.

Jíbaro (Marsalis Music, 2005), his third recording, was further proof that all the critical praise he had been receiving was well deserved. The recording is an exploration of a style of popular Puerto Rican folk music known as La Música Jíbara. The Chicago Tribune summed it up best when they wrote: “The instrumental prowess of Zenon's playing, the vigor of his compositions and the sensitivity of his band to Puerto Rican song forms point to new possibilities in jazz.” Like his previous recordings, Jíbaro was uniformly well received and appeared on many top ten lists including The New York Times, Latin Beat, El Nuevo Día, and the Chicago Tribune.

Decidedly more personal and introspective, Awake (Marsalis Music, 2008) incorporates a string quartet and additional horns to Zenón's core group and brings to the forefront his formidable skills as a writer and arranger. As was admirably put in Audiophile Audition: “ This is an album far beyond the usual sax & string outing, revealing a unique statement that communicates passion, intellect and spirit to the listener." Awake also caught the attention of the international press, garnering it 5 star reviews and top honors in publications like Jazzwise (UK), Jazz Man (France) and Jazz Magazine (France).

Zenón returned to his Puerto Rican roots for inspiration in his next outing, Esta Plena (Marsalis Music, 2009), which draws from the traditional Plena music style of his home country and was supported by a fellowship from the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. On it Zenón augmented his quartet to include three percussionists/vocalists and took on the additional roles of both lyricist and vocalist. Jazz Times wrote that Esta Plena is “…music with integrity, energy, poise and a fresh vision of how the Afro-Caribbean jazz aesthetic can evolve without losing its deep roots." In addition to being hailed by critics (New York Times, Village Voice, El Nuevo Día, Downbeat, The Chicago Tribune ) as one of the best recordings of 2009, the recording earned Zenón two Grammy nominations (one for Best Improvised solo and one for Best Latin Jazz Recording of the year) as well as a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Recording of the year.

As a composer he has been commissioned by SFJAZZ, The New York State Council for the Arts, Chamber Music America, The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Jazz Reach, Montclair University, and many of his peers.

He has been featured in articles on publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Jazz Times, Jazziz, Boston Globe, Billboard, Newsday, Details, as well as gracing the cover of Downbeat Magazine and the Swiss jazz magazine, Jazz N More. He has also toped the Rising Star Alto Sax category of the Downbeat Critic's Poll on four different occasions.

Zenon’s biography would not be complete without discussing his role as an educator. In 2003, he was chosen by the Kennedy Center to teach and perform in West Africa as part of their Jazz Ambassador program. Since then, he has given hundreds of lectures and master classes and has taught all over the world at institutions which include: The Banff Centre, Berklee College of Music, Siena Jazz, Conservatorium Van Amsterdam, Conservatoire de Paris, University of Manitoba, Manhattan School of Music, UMass-Amherst and the Brubeck Institute. He is also a permanent faculty member at New England Conservatory of Music. But perhaps what best reflects his commitment to education and cements his growing reputation as a "cultural ambassador", is a program that he founded in 2011, called Caravana Cultural.

The main purpose of Caravana Cultural is to present free Jazz concerts in rural areas of Puerto Rico. The program makes a "cultural investment" in the Island by giving these communities a chance to listen to jazz of the highest caliber (Zenón invites some of the best musicians in the New York jazz scene to perform as guests), while at the same time getting young Puerto Rican musicians actively involved in the concert activities. Starting in February 2011 and continuing through 2013, Zenón will present a concert every four months. Each concert focuses on the music of a specific jazz legend (Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, among others) and is preceded by a pre-concert presentation which touches on the basic elements of jazz and improvisation. Over the last six years Zenón has also personally organized "Jazz Jam Sessions" in the area of San Juan, as a way of creating a platform for younger jazz musicians to grow and interact with one another.

In 2008 he was selected as one of 25 distinguished individuals to receive the prestigious and coveted MacArthur Fellowship, more commonly known as the "Genius Grant”.

Zenón lives in New York City with his wife Elga and their daughter Elena.

Discography

AS LEADER:

  • Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook Marsalis Music (2011)
  • Esta Plena – Marsalis Music (2009)
  • Awake – Marsalis Music (2008)
  • Jibaro - Marsalis Music (2005)
  • Ceremonial – Marsalis Music (2004)
  • Looking Forward – Fresh Sound New Talent (2002)

AS SIDEMAN:

  • Edmar Castaneda, Double Portion (March 2012)
  • Henry Cole & The Afrobeat Collective, Roots Before Branches (March 2012)
  • Aaron Goldberg & Guillermo Klein, Bienestan (June 2011)/ Sunnyside Records
  • Adam Cruz, Milestone (April 2011)/ Sunnyside Records
  • SFJAZZ Collective, Live 2010 7th Annual Concert Tour (October 2010) SFJAZZ Records
  • Antonio Sanchez, Live In New York At The Jazz Standard (August 2010) CAM Jazz
  • SFJAZZ Collective, Live 2009 6th Annual Concert Tour (October 2009) SFJAZZ Records
  • Miles Okazaki,Generations (2009)/ Sunnyside Records
  • Paoli Mejias, Jazzambia (2008)
  • SFJAZZ Collective, Live 2008 5th Annual Concert Tour (October 2008) SFJAZZ Records
  • Guillermo Klein, Filtros (2008)/Sunnyside Records
  • Hans Glawischnig, Panorama (January 2008) Sunnyside Records
  • SFJAZZ Collective, Live 2007 4th Annual Concert Tour (July 2007) SFJAZZ Records
  • The Jason Lindner Big Band,Live at The Jazz Gallery (May 2007) Ansic Records
  • SFJAZZ Collective, Live 2006 3rd Annual Concert Tour (January 2007) SFJAZZ Records
  • Brian Lynch, Spheres of Influence Suite (2006)Ewe Records
  • Miles Okazaki,Mirror (2006)
  • Paoli Mejias, Transcend (2006)
  • SFJAZZ Collective,SFJAZZ Collective 2, (March 2006) Nonesuch Records
  • SFJAZZ Collective, Live 2005 2nd Annual Concert Tour (January 2006) SFJAZZ Records
  • Edsel Gomez, Cubist Music (January 2006) Zoho Music
  • Charlie Haden & The Liberation Music Orchestra, Not In Our Name (September 2005) Verve
  • Mingus Big Band, I Am Three (June 2005)
  • SFJAZZ Collective, SFJAZZ Collective (May 2005) Nonesuch Records
  • Brian Lynch, 24/7 (April 2005) Nagel Heyer
  • Gilson Schachnik, Lampiao (2004) Candid
  • The Sound of New York Jazz Underground (December 2004) Fresh Sound New Talent
  • Chiara Civello, Last Quarter Moon (February 2005),Verve
  • SFJAZZ Collective, Inaugural Season 2004(August 2004)
  • Charlie Haden, The Land of the Sun(August 2004),Verve
  • David Sanchez, Coral(August 2004)/Sony
  • Luis Perdomo, Focus Point(September 2004)/RKM
  • Paoli Mejias, Mi Tambor(2004)
  • Kendrick Oliver & The New Life Jazz Orchestra, Welcome to New Life(2003)/Sphere
  • Hans Glawischnig, Common Ground(2003)/Fresh Sound New Talent
  • The Jinga Quintet, A Day Gone By (2003)/Fresh Sound World Jazz
  • Ray Barretto, Hommage to Art Blakey (2003)/Sunnyside
  • Quite Sane, The Child of Trouble Times (2002)/Rykodisc
  • Edu Tancredi y el Bandon 33, Ongoing Dreams (2002)/Fresh Sound
  • Guillermo Klein, Los Guachos 3 (2002)/Sunnyside
  • Sebastian Weiss, Momentum (2001)/Fresh Sound New Talent
  • William Cepeda, Branching Out (2001)/Blue Jackel Entertainment
  • David Sanchez, Travesia (2001)/Columbia
  • Greg Tardy, Abundance (2001)/Palmetto Jazz
  • Stephan Crump, Tuckahoe (2001)/Accurate
  • David Sanchez, Melaza (2001)/Columbia
  • Either/Orchestra,More Beautiful Than Death (2000)/Accurate
  • Gilson Schachnik, Raw (2000)/Brownstone
  • Gabriel Rodriguez, Beginning (1999)
  • Edu Tancredi & Bandon 33, (1998)/Brownstone

Album Reviews

References

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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Mentioned in

Awake (2008 Album by Miguel Zenón)
SF Jazz Collective (Jazz Band, 2000s)
Jíbaro (2005 Album by Miguel Zenón)
Miguel Zenón (Jazz Artist)
Ceremonial (2004 Album by Miguel Zenón)
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