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Aruán Ortiz
Aruán Ortiz -|- Alameda – [Fresh Sound/New Talent, 2010]
“Mr. Ortiz, a young Cuban pianist with a modern jazz pedigree, leads a promising ensemble…” – Nate Chinen, New York Times
Alameda features Aruán Ortiz (piano & Rhodes), Abraham Burton (saxophone – 1,2,4,6,7,8), Antoine Roney (saxophone – 2,4,8), Peter Slavov (bass), Eric McPherson (drums)
Jazz pianist Aruán Ortiz, “the latest Cuban wunderkind to arrive in the United States” (John Murph, BETJazz.com), hit the ground running when he came on the American jazz scene in 2003. A classically trained violist and pianist, this Santiago de Cuba native’s sound is as marked by the influence of the contemporary classical composers such as Schoenberg, Ravel, and Copland, as it is by traditional Afro-Cuban sounds and jazz greats such as Bud Powell, Art Tatum, and Thelonious Monk. A major testament to his massive talent, since setting foot in the States Ortiz was quickly called upon to perform and record with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Greg Osby, Cindy Blackman, Esperanza Spalding, Gary Thomas, Wayne Krantz, Rashied Ali, Stefon Harris, Horacio “el negro” Hernández, Giovanni Hidalgo, Lionel Loueke, Jane Bunnett, Jerry Bergonzi and others. Ortiz is currently a member of jazz legend Wallace Roney’s Quintet, Sound of The Future, and is prominently featured on Roney’s new live recording, If Only For One Night (High Note, 2009). Continue reading