CD review: Fran Suárez Trío – Cielos Americanos 2020: Video, CD cover

Chilean pianist and composer Fran Suárez, based in Barcelona and immersed in a constant creative musical search, presents his new work in trio with Jordi Mestres on double bass and Jordi Herreros on drums.

This new recording presents 11 original compositions in jazz trio format (piano, double bass and drums) using elements of contemporary and 20th-century composition rarely seen in the composition for this format in our environment. The objective is to widen the limits of what is considered jazz composition, opening it to a sound space without a limiting label.

It includes an application of techniques of composition of diverse origins, from escape, canon to 3 voices, canonizing canon, contemporary modal counterpoint, politonality and in several elements of the avant-garde musical creation of the twentieth century, according to the influences of Bartok and Stravinsky, aiming to expand the aesthetic and emotional spectrum of the traditional jazz trio.

Also, this new project delves into the metric and harmonic research of the new jazz, focusing more on amalgam compasses, exotic, rhythmic Latin American modalities, and the continuous influence of rock and funk within the primarily jazz space developed by the trio.

Many of these ideas have been developed in his teaching work in composition, harmony and piano both at Berklee College of Music (Valencia campus) and at the Conservatori del Liceo (Barcelona), and are reflected in this new concept in jazz.

01. Crepuscular
02. Vidas Paralelas
03. Sin Horizontes (Canon A 3)
04. Cielos Americanos
05. Tango del Inmigrante
06. Lanne-en-Barétous
07. Luces de la Caleta
08. Gato Callejero
09. Novum Cancrizan Canon
10. Free Canon
11. Un Dia de Julio

Fran Suarez (piano)
Jordi Mestres (double bass)
Jordi Herreros (drums)