Midwest Record by Chris Spector
SOCRATES GARCIA LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA/Back Home: A Dominican cat now teaching in Colorado rounds up a slew of great soloists to join forces under the penumbra of his big band for a trip back to the mother land to lay down an easy going but high energy mash up of Afro-Caribe jazz/dance music that’ll get you whether you like to get up and shake it or sit and listen. Snazzy is what comes to mind here. With never a dull moment to harsh your vibe, this is going to take you to the groovy Latin jazz club in your mind where gringos are always welcome. Check it out.
Jazz Mostly by Bruce Crowther
Musical Memoirs by Dee Dee McNeil
This recording is smart, well arranged and mixed to perfection. The percussion stands out as strong as the horn lines and draws me in from the very first few bars. All the music on this project is composed, arranged and conducted by Socrates Garcia. Believe me, the arrangements are dynamic and beautiful. The orchestration is lush and the musicians are masterfully articulate.
Garcia claims his music to be “autobiographical” as in “… a point of arrival and departure, arriving to a place where I could combine my heritage with the aesthetics of jazz; departure, towards a promising future for this symbiotic relationship.”
On “Vantage Point,” stewing in ‘merengue’ and allowing Felix ‘Abuelo’ Garcia to flex his percussive muscles, I am hooked. The rhythms are contagious and make me want to dance and celebrate life. Garcia brings his Dominican Republic roots to the party. The musicians sparkle like stars over the cities of Santo Domingo or Santiago de los Caballeros. Each song has a generous story included in the linear notes to explain what prompted that particular composition. There is mention of ‘bachata’ being a type of music currently accepted worldwide that grew, like the USA blues, from the underground. For many years, bachata was considered a second-class music. It is represented prominently in the title tune, “Back Home” that Garcia claims is a brief journey through his musical career. He has bridged cultures, using pillars of Heavy Metal, Dominican folk music and jazz to support his extravagantly structured arrangements and compositions. Because of the clarity of this recording, I must give credit to Garcia and Greg Heimbecker for their mixologist expertise and to Heimbecker for the final mastering; beautifully executed!
Socrates Garcia is the Director of Music Technology at University of Northern Colorado where he teaches courses in Music Technology, Digital Composition and Recording Techniques. This is also where he recorded this project. Dr. Garcia’s credits include the album Yo Por Ti by Puerto Rican artist Olga Tañon, Grammy Award winner of Merengue Album of the Year 2001; musical director/keyboardist for Los Ilegales in their 1997-1998 Latin American tour; keyboardist for multi-Grammy winner Juan Luis Guerra; and guest performer with the Dominican Republic’s National Symphony Orchestra, among others. His first solo CD titled “Suenos”, was released in 2005. This contemporary jazz big band project is bound to be another feather in the cap of a scholar and creative genius who brings multi-culture and flair to the big band stage. You can find Scores/Parts available at http://www.uncjazzpress.com.”
Latin Jazz Network by Raul daGama
There have been many albums performed by university students not only from the US, but from other parts of the world. What sets this band apart is its ability to read the very complex scores of Garcia’s music. They are difficult, requiring great concentration because of the Palos, Atabales and the relatively unexplored Bachata traditional forms that have been melded into the jazz – and, at times, rock – aspects of the compositions. Most challenging of all is the great speed at which this music must be played and the rapidity of the rhythmic changes as well as its demanding melodic twists and turns. These, therefore, are musicians who must be extremely well-schooled. But what about musical invention and the ability to improvise on chord changes? The proof of that is in the soli that inform all of the pieces. There is precious little space to name all of the soloists. You must buy the disc and refer to the back of the inlay card for that. There is no praise high enough for them.
But one musician gets mentioned briefly in Garcia’s notes and only in the personnel listing. She is the drummer, Helen De La Rosa. Not only has De La Rosa been assigned a role seemingly tucked between the woodwinds, brass and the rest of the rhythm section, but she has to share percussion duties with the percussionists, the Bachata drummers from the Dominican Republic. What she does with her trap set is truly remarkable. Nestling cheek-by-jowl with the Dominican drummers De La Rosa carves out a space for herself. She is erudite, plays with extraordinary precision and yet invents rhythmic figures behind and ahead of the complex beat. Drumming like this is worthy of notice. Listen to her on Back Home and throughout the Dominican Suite for Jazz Orchestra. (Not that she is not brilliant in the rest of the repertoire), but in these pieces De La Rosa give a fine account of herself.
Celebration of the Butterflies is a gorgeous piece and must share the honours with the Dominican Suite. Socrates Garcia’s notes describe the antecedents of the composition. I do not normally read notes before listening to the music. This way, I allow for the music to speak for itself first. Upon listening to Celebration of the Butterflies I was intrigued because of the manner in which the music ‘became’ the title. It is a heartbreaking story. It deals with the assassination of the Mirabel sisters by Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, the brutal dictator of the Dominican Republic. The day of these martyrs has since come to be known as the International Day of the Elimination of Violence against Women. Apart from this historic note, Celebration of the Butterflies is a soaring piece about the triumph of human endeavour. It also shares the honours of this wonderful album.
Jersey Jazz by Joe Lang
Blog Critics by Jack Goodstein
The seven-track album, all composed and arranged by Garcia, begins with the high voltage “Vantage Point,” a tune based on the merengue that runs close to nine minutes. It features Ryan Middagh on the baritone sax and pianist Manuel Tejada as well as some real energy from the percussion section. This is followed by “Calle El Conde a Las 8:00,” a composition that celebrates the liveliness of what the composer remembers as a vibrant cultural neighborhood of his youth. Will Swindler on soprano sax and Jordan Skomal on trumpet capture the essence of the local scene.
The tenor sax of Kenyon Brenner highlights both “Celebration of the Butterflies,” a salute to the Mirabal sisters – anti-Trujillo activists assassinated in 1960 and the subjects of the novel and later the film In the Time of the Butterflies – and the album’s title song.
Back Home closes with a three-part suite entitled “Dominican Suite for Jazz Orchestra,” a major piece much in the tradition of the famed big band suites of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The first part is “Homage to Tavito.” Tavito Vasquez is a saxophonist, Garcia explains, revered as the “Charlie Parker of the Caribbean.” Garcia uses it as an opportunity to explore the symbiotic union of bebop and the merengue.
The suite provides a fine conclusion to Socrates Garcia’s jazz-soaked tribute to his homeland.
AXS by Carol Banks Weber
Improvijazzation Nation by Dick Metcalf
“Socrates Garcia – BACK HOME: To simply state that this is “tasty Latin jazz” would not do justice to the vibrant energy that Mr. Garcia is able to project through his masterful compositions on tunes like the fabulous opener, the 8:39 “Vantage Point“… the liner notes say that his music is “tinged” with the colors of the Caribbean – more like “fully applied”… I just loved the way this tune expresses such vigor for life and the living of it! He also plays guitar on the title track, “Back Home“… one of the liveliest tunes I’ve listened to (yet) in 2016! It was the percussion and total integration of all the players/instruments on “Celebration of the Butterflies” that made it my personal favorite of the seven extended compositions.. it’s a tribute to three sisters who rebelled against the tyranny of the Trujillo regime (back in the day), and expresses just the right amount of “forward-looking” with “attitude” that’s needed to make a tune most memorable. I give Socrates and his players a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for this great jazz release; “EQ” (energy quotient) rating is 4.98.
All About Jazz by Jack Bowers
Back Home, the debut recording by composer / arranger / musicologist Socrates Garcia’s Latin Jazz Orchestra, combines the best of two worlds: ardent Latin jazz that never forswears its roots, and emphatic American-designed big-band swing that provides a solid framework for Garcia’s picturesque Latin / American excursions. Garcia, who was born in the Dominican Republic, is director of Music Technology at the University of Northern Colorado, and Back Home, it seems, represents more a state of mind than any physical locale, even though there are brief stops at “Calle el Conde” and “From Across the Street” in Garcia’s native land, the last a part of the three-movement “Dominican Suite for Jazz Orchestra.”
Garcia’s compositions (he wrote and arranged every number on the album) are lively and effervescent, easily bridging whatever gap, real or imagined, that may exist between American jazz and the music of his homeland. While Latin rhythms predominate, the more well-known samba, bossa and tango are supplanted by Dominican cadences such as the bachata and merengue. As for Garcia’s sidemen, most of whom call Colorado home, their mastery of his blueprint is such that they might easily be misread as emigres from Garcia’s birthplace. An exception is the all-Dominican rhythm section, comprised of pianist Manuel Tejada, bassist
” data-original-title=””>Pengbian Sang and drummer
” data-original-title=””>Helen De La Rosa (with an assist from percussionists Felix “Abuelo” Garcia, Rafael Almengod, Josue Reynoso and Otoniel Nicolas). Guitarist Steve Kovalchek is added on “Celebration of the Butterflies,” and Garcia plays guitar on “Back Home.”
The album’s centerpiece and inspiration is the colorful “Dominican Suite,” which opens with a sharply drawn “Tribute to Tavito” (identified by Garcia as saxophonist Tavito Vasquez, known as “the
” data-original-title=””>Charlie Parker of the Caribbean”). As SuperSax did for Parker, Garcia has embedded one of Vasquez’s solos as part of the composition. The second movement, “Bachata for Two,” akin to a Latin waltz, was written for Garcia’s wife, Wanda, while the third, “From Across the Street,” recalls folk music—called Palos or Atabales—performed by a woman who lived across the street from Garcia’s home in the Dominican Republic and is the only track on the album with vocals (by a suitably well-spoken quartet). The opening number, “Vantage Point,” is a bracing merengue whose charming melody and addictive rhythms give way to canny solos by Tejada and baritone saxophonist Ryan Middagh. The vivacious “Calle el Conde a Las 8:00,” whose bright solos are by soprano Wil Swindler and trumpeter Jordan Skomal, precedes the earnest “Celebration of the Butterflies,” Garcia’s homage to the three Mirabel sisters who were assassinated by dictator Rafael Trujillo’s government for their opposition to his regime. Tenor Kenyon Brenner is showcased on “Butterflies,” as he is on “Back Home.” Another splendid soloist, trumpeter
” data-original-title=””>Brad Goode, is front and center on “Bachata for Two” and shares the spotlight with Tejada on “Homage to Tavito.”
Not only is Back Home a near-perfect blend of Dominican and American music, it stands tall on its own as a superlative example of big-band jazz at its best. Well done, Socrates.
Track Listing: Vantage Point; Calle el Conde a Las 8:00; Celebration of the Butterflies; Back Home; Dominican Jazz Suite for Orchestra (Homage to Tavito / Bachata for Two / From Across the Street).Personnel: Socrates Garcia: composer, arranger, conductor, guitar (4); Brad Goode: trumpet, flugelhorn; Dave Rajewski: trumpet, flugelhorn; Jordan Skomal: trumpet, flugelhorn; Miles Roth: trumpet, flugelhorn; Wil Swindler: alto, soprano sax, flute; Briana Harris: alto sax, flute; Kenyon Brenner: tenor sax, flute, clarinet; Joel Harris: tenor sax, clarinet; Ryan Middagh: baritone sax, bass clarinet; Brielle Frost: flute; Joe Chisholm: trombone; Frank Cook: trombone; Jonathan Zimmy: trombone; Guillermo Rivera: trombone; Gary Mayne: bass trombone; Manuel Tejada: piano; Steve Kovalchek: guitar (3); Pengbian Sang: bass; Helen De Rosa: drums; Felix “Abuelo” Garcia: tambura, congas, atabales, vocal (7); Rafael Almengod: atabales, tambu, vocal (7); Josue Reynoso: guira; Otoniel Nicolas: timbal; Hovernys Garcia: vocal (7); Lia Nova: vocal (7).
Bebop Spoken Here by Lance Liddle
This album continues that tradition combining, as it does, contemporary jazz big band with the Caribbean colours of Garcia’s Dominican Republic.
Improvijazzation Nation by Dick Metcalf
All About Jazz by Jack Bowers
“Not only is Back Home a near-perfect blend of Dominican and American music, it stands tall on its own as a superlative example of big-band jazz at its best.”
Back Home, the debut recording by composer / arranger / musicologist Socrates Garcia’s Latin Jazz Orchestra, combines the best of two worlds: ardent Latin jazz that never forswears its roots, and emphatic American-designed big-band swing that provides a solid framework for Garcia’s picturesque Latin / American excursions. Garcia, who was born in the Dominican Republic, is director of Music Technology at the University of Northern Colorado, and Back Home, it seems, represents more a state of mind than any physical locale, even though there are brief stops at “Calle el Conde” and “From Across the Street” in Garcia’s native land, the last a part of the three-movement “Dominican Suite for Jazz Orchestra.”
Garcia’s compositions (he wrote and arranged every number on the album) are lively and effervescent, easily bridging whatever gap, real or imagined, that may exist between American jazz and the music of his homeland. While Latin rhythms predominate, the more well-known samba, bossa and tango are supplanted by Dominican cadences such as the bachata and merengue. As for Garcia’s sidemen, most of whom call Colorado home, their mastery of his blueprint is such that they might easily be misread as emigres from Garcia’s birthplace. An exception is the all-Dominican rhythm section, comprised of pianist Manuel Tejada, bassist
” data-original-title=””>Pengbian Sang and drummer
” data-original-title=””>Helen De La Rosa (with an assist from percussionists Felix “Abuelo” Garcia, Rafael Almengod, Josue Reynoso and Otoniel Nicolas). Guitarist Steve Kovalchek is added on “Celebration of the Butterflies,” and Garcia plays guitar on “Back Home.”
The album’s centerpiece and inspiration is the colorful “Dominican Suite,” which opens with a sharply drawn “Tribute to Tavito” (identified by Garcia as saxophonist Tavito Vasquez, known as “the
” data-original-title=””>Charlie Parker of the Caribbean”). As SuperSax did for Parker, Garcia has embedded one of Vasquez’s solos as part of the composition. The second movement, “Bachata for Two,” akin to a Latin waltz, was written for Garcia’s wife, Wanda, while the third, “From Across the Street,” recalls folk music—called Palos or Atabales—performed by a woman who lived across the street from Garcia’s home in the Dominican Republic and is the only track on the album with vocals (by a suitably well-spoken quartet). The opening number, “Vantage Point,” is a bracing merengue whose charming melody and addictive rhythms give way to canny solos by Tejada and baritone saxophonist Ryan Middagh. The vivacious “Calle el Conde a Las 8:00,” whose bright solos are by soprano Wil Swindler and trumpeter Jordan Skomal, precedes the earnest “Celebration of the Butterflies,” Garcia’s homage to the three Mirabel sisters who were assassinated by dictator Rafael Trujillo’s government for their opposition to his regime. Tenor Kenyon Brenner is showcased on “Butterflies,” as he is on “Back Home.” Another splendid soloist, trumpeter
” data-original-title=””>Brad Goode, is front and center on “Bachata for Two” and shares the spotlight with Tejada on “Homage to Tavito.”
Not only is Back Home a near-perfect blend of Dominican and American music, it stands tall on its own as a superlative example of big-band jazz at its best. Well done, Socrates.
Track Listing: Vantage Point; Calle el Conde a Las 8:00; Celebration of the Butterflies; Back Home; Dominican Jazz Suite for Orchestra (Homage to Tavito / Bachata for Two / From Across the Street).
Personnel: Socrates Garcia: composer, arranger, conductor, guitar (4); Brad Goode: trumpet, flugelhorn; Dave Rajewski: trumpet, flugelhorn; Jordan Skomal: trumpet, flugelhorn; Miles Roth: trumpet, flugelhorn; Wil Swindler: alto, soprano sax, flute; Briana Harris: alto sax, flute; Kenyon Brenner: tenor sax, flute, clarinet; Joel Harris: tenor sax, clarinet; Ryan Middagh: baritone sax, bass clarinet; Brielle Frost: flute; Joe Chisholm: trombone; Frank Cook: trombone; Jonathan Zimmy: trombone; Guillermo Rivera: trombone; Gary Mayne: bass trombone; Manuel Tejada: piano; Steve Kovalchek: guitar (3); Pengbian Sang: bass; Helen De Rosa: drums; Felix “Abuelo” Garcia: tambura, congas, atabales, vocal (7); Rafael Almengod: atabales, tambu, vocal (7); Josue Reynoso: guira; Otoniel Nicolas: timbal; Hovernys Garcia: vocal (7); Lia Nova: vocal (7).