#todo corazon

[iescribiendo]

Todo corazón que guarda bajo llave una verdad. Tarde o temprano se despierta una mañana preguntándole al espejo si hizo bien o si hizo mal.

Todo Corazón — Amaia Montero

[jazzheads-blog]

All About Jazz Reviews Mark Weinstein's "Todo Corazon"

By DAN BILAWSKY, Published: March 11, 2013

Mark Weinstein's modus operandi is simple: He follows his interests at any given time. He found success as a groundbreaking salsa trombonist early on, but that didn't stop him from leaving his horn behind and entering the realm of academia. He earned a Ph.D in Philosophy, with a specialization in mathematical logic, and started teaching at the college level, but music's magnetic effect pulled him back into performing. He returned to the scene in the late '70s, born anew as a flautist, and he's stayed that course ever since. He continues to balance his teaching side with his flute playing persona, but his restless spirit still manifests itself in musical endeavors.

Over the past decade, Weinstein has taken a globetrotting journey on record, exploring the sounds of Brazil, Cuba, Africa and the Caribbean, and refracting what he's absorbed through his flute; now, Argentina gets added to the list with Todo Corazon. This program finds Weinstein tilling the sensual soul of this South American land with some help from a well-equipped foursome in-the-know: Argentinian bassist Pablo Aslan, his piano playing band mate, Abel Rogantini, bandoneon ace Raul Jaurena and guitarist Francisco Navarro.

Together, this quintet works their way through a heady collection of music with a light, yet lusty touch. Weinstein and Navarro often come across like musical soul mates locked in a dance of beauty, and Jaurena proves adept at making magic when he meets the leader in quiet spaces ("Mi Refugio"). Aslan takes on multiple roles here, delivering percussive bass grounding and rich arco lines with equal skill and verve. His ability to work his way into the fabric of these songs is remarkable, though not surprising given his own small, but admirable body of work. Rogantini brings a greater sense of structure to the music, yet still manages to give off the scent of seduction and mystery that's expected.

Weinstein is his usual masterful self, delivering classy lines that shimmer, sing and glide atop the rhythmic waves of his colleagues. His respect for this music comes through at every turn, but it's also clear that he yearns to take it some place else, where his jazz sensibilities can merge with the tango at the cellular level.

AllAboutJazz.com

“Todo Corazon” is available on JAZZHEADS, iTunes and Amazon.com

[jazzheads-blog]

REVIEW: Mark Weinstein's Todo Corazon (Rainlore's World)

Rainlore's World

Review: Mark Weinstein - Todo Corazon - The Tango Album

To be released on 12th February on Jazzheads, Todo Corazon - The Tango Album is Mark Weinstein's ninth release for this prestigious jazz label.

By way of a preamble, as it were, I feel compelled to note the following. It is curious to note how two great jazz musicians, both very much belonging with the giants of the past, one in the States, Mark Weinstein, and one in Britain, Gilad Atzmon (review to go live app. a week after this), one a jazz flautist, the other primarily known for his alto and soprano sax and clarinet, both fierce, fiery improvisers, both from totally different musical backgrounds and with totally different styles and approaches, are releasing albums within a few short weeks of each other that have so much in common, in spite of taking entirely different directions. Fundamentally, and most strikingly, both albums mark a fairly radical departure from each of the artists' usual directions and styles, and have both venturing well outside of their 'comfort zones.' Both albums are about heart, and beauty, and seem to question the soullessness of our modern world. Both almost force the listener to stop everything and listen to a more serene, sublime sound, to listen to their heart, each in its own different way of course. This is, perhaps, where the similarities end...

With Todo Corazon, Weinstein, and collaborator and bassist Pablo Aslan, have come up with an album that is distinct from the crop of 'me too' jazz tango albums (excellent though some of them are!) of the last couple of years. Rather, this harkens back to the 'tango a la parilla' (lit., Tango on the grill) in part, and for the rest is more like jazz-inspired improvs to tango than tango jazz. It has to be noted here that Aslan, a several times Grammy and Latin Grammy nominee and a leading light of jazz tango as well as tango a la parilla, could hardly have chosen a better selection of tangos, going right back to some of the oldest classics and going right up to the modern Tango Nuevo of Ástor Piazzolla. Aslan's arrangements are also flawless and imaginative. The two ensembles reflect those of classic tango and classic Tango Nuevo. The first part of the recording of Todo Corazon was made with an ensemble of piano - Abel Rogantini, bandoneón - Grammy winner and bandoneónista extraordinaire (playing with Piazzolla at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1986) Raúl Jaurena, and guitar - Francisco Navarro, in addition to Weinstein's concert, alto and bass flutes and Aslan's bass. The second part omitted piano and bandoneón, and this trio is not only more intimate but also reflects the early tango ensembles of flute, violin and guitar.

In the early stages of this project a couple of years ago or so, Weinstein confided that he felt he would feel happier with just guitar and bass. As always, his instinct has been unfailing and proved him right. The trio tracks are much freer, much more relaxed than the quintet ones. However, this is by no means to say that the quintet tracks are in any way lesser ones. All are equally outstanding, just different in flavour and quality. Weinstein need not have worried.

Stepping so far outside of his comfort zone of straight-ahead jazz, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz, and into the realm of the tango, was a very courageous step for Weinstein to take. And he has handled it masterfully and made it work beautifully. He stepped right into this new-to-him territory of tango and succeeded in not merely 'getting into it' but indeed making it his own. The result is, in many ways, perhaps Weinstein's most beautiful, lyrical, romantic album to date.

Todo Corazon (named after the track, Todo Corazón) is exactly that - all heart, all romance and beauty. It pulls at the heart strings like no other Weinstein album has before. It is a remarkable album in more ways than you could easily shake a stick at, not least for the absence of percussion, which must have made the adjustment doubly challenging for a hardened jazz musician like Weinstein. Yet, at the same time this absence of percussion has also freed Weinstein to extend more into the lower registers of his flutes, a glory in itself with Weinstein's rich, warm, distinctive voice and style akin to a sax player. Grisel, one of the most romantic songs among romantic songs here, is the most beautiful bass flute yet heard, and bear in mind here the particular difficulties of the bass flute. Throughout Todo Corazon, Weinstein's flutes sing as they have not sung before, are given full head to be heard with a freedom that they are seldom allowed. All heart, indeed!

The band, whether in quintet or trio format, could also hardly be bettered, and Weinstein lets them carry the tangos and plays off them. Aslan is probably the most outstanding bass player of our time in the tango and jazz tango worlds, his own quintet one of the very finest in this sphere. Jaurena should hardly need introduction or comment as one of the leading bandoneónistas of our age. Rogantini and Navarro, on piano and guitar respectively, could not be finer either.

Step back and stop, and just listen to this serene and sublime music, and let the romance and beauty take you. Everything else is just so many words. And noise.

Mark Weinstein's Todo Corazon is an outstanding work of serene beauty and the passion of the tango. All heart. It is, to put it simply, an album to die for and an absolute must have!  

© 2013 Rainlore's World/Rainlore. All rights reserved.

"Todo Corazon" is available on JAZZHEADS, iTunes and Amazon.com