Release Date: 09/08/23

Duráns 'Cry Me A River' big band album presents a fusion of Afro-Caribbean influences, exceptional improvisation, and genre-bending arrangements.

Hilario DurÃ¡n brings the full scope of his artistry, the depth of knowledge of musical genres in the perfect storm of big artistry on Cry Me A River. The celebrated Cuban-Canadian composer and piano-master Hilario DurÃ¡n leads his nineteen-piece ensemble featuring special guests Paquito D'Rivera and Horacio 'El Negro' HernÃ¡ndez in a stellar big band recording - the first in 17 years.

Through the course of the album the Grammy-nominated and Juno Award-winning DurÃ¡n actively throws overboard melodic, harmonic, and structural hooks that have become expressively blunted through overuse, building big band charts that bloom in color and texture and atmospheric beauty.

DurÃ¡n integrates a myriad of genres into his singular style on the album - traversing innovations that have made his music uniquely breathtaking. He points to Claudia , a song he arranged while he was touring as Musical Director with ValdÃ©s, and features D'Rivera on alto saxophone, as Dizzy Gillespie's Night in Tunisia. Fantasia Impromptu is a kind of jazz-meets classical, via Brazil and Cuba, featuring D'Rivera on clarinet.

Of the title song, Cry Me A River DurÃ¡n says: ' Elizabeth RodrÃguez is just fantastic on violin. In her solo she plays deep in the Cuban tradition and follows that with an incredible improvisation!' he says. ' PacÃ¡ por Juanito is a tribute to Juanito MÃ¡rquez ,' DurÃ¡n explains, 'He was one of the greatest musicians of Cuba the conductor of Orquesta de la Radio y TelevisiÃ³n in the 60's. I learned how to arrange for big band, by studying his scores for that orchestra.' Another original is Mambo y Tumbao . 'Here, I highlight both traditional forms (mambo) and the revolutionary innovators of Cuban music - the great Bebo ValdÃ©s , who invented the 'batanga' rhythm, and the influential bandleader PÃ©rez Prado . And of course, I Remember Mingus is a tribute to Charles Mingus , the great composer, bassist, and bandleader. Check out Marc Rogers ' solo here,' DurÃ¡n says enthusiastically.

Media

Label: ALMA RECORDS

Genre: Jazz

Run Time: 52:31 mins

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