Saxophonist
Miguel Zenón has distinguished himself by combining Latin traditions -- especially from his native Puerto Rico -- with adroit, forward-thinking jazz. It's a distinctive approach that has garnered him numerous accolades, multiple Grammy nominations, and several fellowships, including a 2008 Guggenheim. His tenth album as a leader, 2017's
Tipico, is no exception to this upward creative trajectory and finds
Zenón delivering one of his most sophisticated collections yet of kinetic, genre-bending post-bop. Joining
Zenón on
Tipico is his longtime working ensemble featuring pianist
Luis Perdomo, bassist
Hans Glawischnig, and drummer
Henry Cole. Together, they play with the lithe, preternatural sense of a complex bio-organism -- like a symbiotic creature able to transmute ideas through skin, pushing and pulling each of its members in any given direction. While that sounds chaotic, there is a balance of wild fluidity and controlled intensity in the group's performances. It's a style that brings to mind the post-
John Coltrane aesthetic of artists like the late
Michael Brecker and
Branford Marsalis. Perhaps not surprisingly, several of
Zenón's previous efforts were released on
Marsalis' own Marsalis Music label.
Tipico is
Zenón's third album, released on his Miel Music imprint, and fittingly finds him growing ever more confident in his own voice. In fact, it's his vocal-like sax sound and trained athletic skill on his instrument that immediately grab your attention on
Tipico. Cuts like the frenetic "Academia," the roiling "Ciclo," and the bug-like "Entre Las Raices" showcase
Zenón's penchant for propulsive Latin rhythms embedded into sprawling, harmonic shapes, often accented by spiraling lead lines that gyroscope with a mathematical joy. Elsewhere, as on the moody "Cantor" and the classically tinged "Corteza,"
Zenón, achieves an at-times soulful breathiness and bright acidity, bending himself into the melody with a balladeer's yearning coo. Ultimately, it's that voice, and
Zenón's ability to so immediately convey who he is within this group, that make
Tipico such an engaging listen. ~ Matt Collar