Search - Steve Kuhn :: Quiereme Mucho

Jazz is not only about improvisation. It?s also about idiomatic transformation, the ability to transform the musical and cultural identity of a song. For over five decades, pianist/composer Steve Kuhn has reigned supreme as one of the Music?s most open-eared and imaginative musicians. On his new CD, Quireme Mucho, the follow-up to his 2003 Sunnyside release Love Walked In, Kuhn ? along with drummer Al Foster and bassist David Finck -- changes the sonic and syncopated citizenship of six classic Latin American compositions by Ernesto Lecuona, Miguel Prado, Osvaldo Farres, Gonzalo Roig, and Consuelo Velazques, into swinging, modern jazz. As everyone knows, Latin rhythms have always been involved in jazz, ever since Jelly Roll Morton talked about the importance of the "Spanish Tinge" in the early Twentieth Century. Kuhn?s propulsive, yet poetic pianisms, buoyed by Foster?s thick and elastic drum licks and Finck?s rocksteady basslines, except for the pretty, bolero take on Roig?s title selection, extend, elaborate, and refine the South-of-the-Border signatures of these splendid songs, not with tired, "Latin jazz" phrases, but with inspired neo-bop intelligence. Lecuona?s "Andalucia," and "Siempre En Mi Corazon," dance with an uptempo, Art Blakey/Jazz Messenger! bounce. Prado?s "Duerme," Farres?s "Tres Palabras," and Velazques?s much loved "Besame Mucho" are also treated with rhythmically riveting and melodically romantic readings.