| Jazz |
Miguel Zenón’s Quartet Captures Lightning at the Village Vanguard
Composer and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón has long stood at the vanguard of contemporary jazz, a singular artist whose work blends intellectual rigor with emotional depth, challenging listeners while offering profound rewards to those steeped in the idiom’s history. His latest release, a quartet recording captured live at New York’s iconic Village Vanguard, may well be one of the most luminous entries in his already distinguished discography.
Marking the 20th anniversary of his long-running quartet and standing as his 18th album as a leader, the recording is a celebration of shared artistry, refined over two decades of collaboration and countless performances across the globe. The quartet, a finely attuned unit known for its telepathic interplay and understated virtuosity, breathes life into six new Zenón compositions, as well as reimagined arrangements of two classics from the Latin American songbook: “El Día de Mi Suerte” (1973) by Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe, and “Perdóname” (1990) by Gilberto Santa Rosa.
What continues to set Zenón apart, even among the most lauded figures in modern jazz, is his relentless pursuit of creative reinvention. While his work is rooted in tradition, it refuses to be confined by it. Nowhere is that more evident than in the intimate, acoustically rich setting of the Village Vanguard. “This album has a very different energy from all our other recordings,” Zenón notes. “It was captured in a musical sanctuary.” The subterranean, crimson-lit room on Seventh Avenue South, open since 1935 and a full-time jazz venue since 1957, has long been hallowed ground for improvisers. “It’s every jazz musician’s dream,” he adds, “to play in that legendary space.”
The quartet’s chemistry is the product not just of time, but of deep mutual listening, a rare and hard-earned synergy forged through years of rehearsals, shared tours, and collective exploration. Each piece unfolds like an intricate conversation, where rhythm section and horns exchange ideas in real time, the bass and drums sculpting supple frameworks that elevate the intent behind every composition. There’s an elegant logic to the ensemble’s flow, a sense that nothing is forced, yet everything is deeply considered.
Zenón’s stature in the jazz world is by now indisputable. He has been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The Chicago Tribune. In 2014, he was named both Jazz Artist of the Year and Alto Saxophonist of the Year in the JazzTimes Critics Poll. The Jazz Journalists Association has recognized him repeatedly, honoring him as Alto Saxophonist of the Year in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020, and as Arranger of the Year in 2020. Most recently, in 2023, he was named Composer of the Year by the same organization.
It seems only fitting, then, that this new album has already begun to attract the attention of discerning critics, the kind who seek out work that is deeply crafted, emotionally resonant, and enduring in its impact. This is jazz that doesn’t pander. It challenges, seduces, and ultimately transcends, a radiant reminder that the form is still evolving, and that, in the right hands, its possibilities remain boundless.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, July 24th 2025
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Album Realease shows at the Vanguard Tuesday, September 16 to Sunday, September 21, 2025
To buy this album (August 29, 2025)
Musicians:
Miguel Zenón, alto saxophone
Luis Perdomo, piano
Hans Glawischnig bass
Henry Cole, drums
Tracklist:
Abre Cuto Güiri Mambo
El Dia De Mi Suerte
Vita
Dale La Vuelta
Coordenadas
Vanguardia Subterránea
Bendición
Perdoname
Recorded September 20th & 21st, 2024
Live at Village Vanguard NY, NY by Tyler McDiarmid
Mixed by Tyler McDiarmid
Mastered by Mark Wider
Pictuyre by Monte Isom
Produced by Miguel Zenón