| Jazz |
After moving to Miami in 2019, Rodriguez noticed the rare collaborations and cross-pollination between mainstream Latin music and Latin jazz. “Coral Way,” featuring guest vocalists Cimafunk (whom you’ve already heard on Bayou Blue Radio) and Alana Sinkëy, serves as a link between these worlds. As a pianist and composer, everyone in the industry has taken favorable notice of Rodriguez since his arrival in the USA. He utilizes his Cuban roots to offer us a uniquely blended music, combining his art and culture with a heavily Americanized jazz. The result is simply dazzling, joyful, sometimes danceable, and always surprising!
Here’s how Alfredo Rodriguez presents his album: On Coral Way, listeners can expect to hear the Rodriguez they’ve known and loved for years, but with a new twist. The album embodies the collective sound of Miami, blending Latin pop, timba, salsa, bachata, tango, reggaeton, and bolero. It’s a musical fusion that encompasses the diverse Latin community while celebrating individuality and fostering unity. It draws equally from Rodriguez’s roots and his newly acquired experiences, representing a new phase of life marked by his latest move from Los Angeles to Miami, the birth of his baby girl, and finally reuniting in the same city as his family, who now all live in Miami following his departure from Cuba.
His compositions carry that unique energy that has been the key to his success from the beginning, with brass reminiscent of Earth, Wind & Fire that will blow you away and a lively rhythm that will make you leap from your chair. Nevertheless, there are also poetic passages, as the album is structured like a story. Creating such a highly orchestral album requires an excellent team of musicians, and here are the details: Alfredo Rodriguez: piano, keyboards; Cimafunk: vocals (track 4); Denis Cuni: trombone (all tracks except 3, 5, 8, 9); Yarel Hernandez: bass guitar (all tracks except 8); Regis Molina: alto saxophone (all tracks except 3, 5, 8, 9); Juanma Montoya: guitars; Michael Olivera: drums (all tracks except 8), percussion (8); Carlos Sarduy: trumpet (all tracks except 5, 8, 9); Alana Sinkëy: vocals (tracks 2, 5); Marcelo Woloski: percussion…
Alfredo Rodriguez’s strength lies in his musical arrangements, where his culture plays an essential role in achieving an optimal result, and it must be acknowledged that he possesses all the qualities to create such a successful work.
This album is warmly recommended by the editorial teams of Paris-Move and Bayou Blue Radio, as it is one of our “Essentials.”
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, July 30th 2023
::::::::::::::::::::::::::