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NEWS/REVIEWS.........

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JULY EDITION, 2022 CADENCE MAGAZINE_Page 75

MAYHEM AT LARGE ~ THE LAST BAHA'I
JORGE SYLVESTER SPONTANEOUS EXPRESSIONS 


"WThis double CD Release by Jorge Sylvester Spontaneous Expressions Octet features some of the greatest long-standing innovative improvising musicians on the world stage today." This is brilliant music. Do you ever wonder how great improvisers create their work? In this double album each CD starts with a couple of solos followed by duets and ending with an octet performance. There is a spaciousness in the music that speaks to the mind. It is evident at first listen that these improvisers are also great listeners. This is pure music - unhurried - allowing itself to develop into full maturity and fruition. There’s a feeling listening to this album that you’re sitting in with the group, letting the improvisational process envelop you. These albums are really a window into the world of improvisation. It’s a world where music and songs are not created in two minutes and 58 seconds - rather the pieces are allowed to develop and take their time to create new vistas unexpectedly and greatly appreciated. Beauty and genius cannot be rushed and this album is a perfect example of those aspects. This album makes me feel free. Highly recommended 

Zim Tarro

         JORGE SYLVESTER SPONTANEOUS EXPRESSIONS  

                  *MAYHEM AT LARGE*                 

            THE LAST BAHA'I SESSION 

                       RELEASED ON MAY 21, 2021!! 

              NOW AVAILABLE ON BANDCAMP


           *NEW LIVE DOUBLE CD SET RECORDING*
                        MAYHEM AT LARGE
   JORGE SYLVESTER SPONTANEOUS EXPRESSIONS 
               The Last Baha'i Session

         

   
                           
    MAYHEM AT LARGE

     *JORGE SYLVESTER SPONTANEOUS EXPRESSIONS*

                          The Last Baha'i Session

                COMPOSITION ***** BLUE ABSTRACT

                 (Dedicated to Pianist, Composer Mike Longo)

     ALTO SAXOPHONE SOLOS * IMPROVISATIONS * DUETS

                           AND OCTET PERFORMANCES WITH

              SPONTANEOUS EXPRESSION ENSEMBLE 

                   FEATURING:

   JORGE SYLVESTER * 
ALTO SAXOPHONE AND IMPROVISATIONS
 

                 NORA MCCARTHY * VOICE AND IMPROVISATIONS

       VINCENT CHANSEY * FRENCH HORN AND IMPROVISATIONS

                      JOSE' DAVILA * TUBA AND IMPROVISATIONS

                    KUBA CICHOCKI * PIANO AND IMPROVISATIONS

       MARVIN SEWELL * ELECTRIC GUITAR AND IMPROVISATIONS

      WALDRON MAHADI RICKS * TRUMPET AND IMPROVISATIONS

                  TONY MORENO * DRUMS AND IMPROVISATIONS 

 

 


     RECORDED AND MIXED BY Gene Torres at NEW YORK'S BAHA'I CENTER 

           ON MARCH 3, 2020 Using the Zylia Recording System https://www.zylia.co/ 

                    CD COVER ART BY Nora McCarthy©2020

               THIS DOUBLE CD IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER GEORGE H. SYLVESTER (R.I.P)
  TO MY Musical Mentor, Violinist, Composer, Mathematician, 
RAMSEY AMEEN (R.I.P),
  AND TO MIKE LONGO (R.I.P) Pianist, Composer and Creator of Jazz Tuesdays at NY'S BAHA'I CENTER


                                            ©2021LizokaMUSIC

 ALL ABOUT JAZZ.COM

   Jorge Sylvester Ace Collective ~ Spirit Driven

By

Florence Wetzel

 

In a 1967 interview with Jazz & Pop magazine, John Coltrane stated: "I know that there are bad forces, forces put here that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the force which is truly for the good." In his lifetime and beyond, Coltrane has inspired artists to infuse their work with this mission, and certainly alto saxophonist and composer Jorge Sylvester can be counted as one of Coltrane's heirs. Spirit Driven is an 86-minute sonic feast by Sylvester and his ACE Collective that shows just how music and spirituality can intertwine. This is music that invokes forces for the good, played by people who feel these forces—and it also offers a cautionary tale about what happens to the world when these forces are absent....More

A SMALL DREAM IN RED 

WILL BE PERFORMING ON SATURDAY 26, 2013:

 CORNELIA STREET CAFE'

29 Cornelia Street

New York, NY 10014

Phone: 212 - 989 - 9319

 

6:00 to 7:45PM

$10 DONATION

 

 

 

 

October 2013 Jazz Inside Magazine REVIEWS

October 4, 2013 

 

One of the appealing things about Sylvester’s albums is his ability to incorporate a variety of world music and make it all fit together. Sylvester, who is originally from Panama but now lives in New York City (also the home of Cleveland native McCarthy) has had no problem showing audiences the relationship between African, Caribbean and Latin music. And he does exactly that on the exuberant “Obeahman,” which is full of world music vitality.

Another one of Sylvester’s strong points is his determination to be consistently musical no matter how outside a particular song might become.“Masouc,” “Remember Haiti” and“Construction No.2” are among the more outside offerings on Spirit Driven, yet all of those selections are quite musical. Some free jazz favors atonality for the sake of atonality: instead of venturing outside, the musicians stay outside. But that isn’t the approach that Sylvester is going for on this album. Sylvester, even on the most abstract parts of this album, thrives on musicality, melody and composition. He also thrives on rhythm, savoring the rhythmic traditions of the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa while maintaining his improvisatory jazz focus......MORE

 

October 2013 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD CD REVIEW

The musical relationship between alto saxophonist Jorge Sylvester and vocalist Nora McCarthy dates back12 years to their first performance as the duo A Small Dream in Red (which takes its name from the 1925masterpiece by Russian abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky). Each is a complete and free thinking performer in their own right, but it’s hard to deny that together they have developed a particularly powerful sense of interplay.

This year, Sylvester and McCarthy are back as A Small Dream in Red, with a new record called In The Language Of Dreams, which they dedicate to both Kandinsky and Ornette Coleman, as “leaders of the avant garde movement”....MORE

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Jorge Sylvester MusiCollage

Customer Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2016
Verified Purchase

George F. Bailey:
5 stars

Panama has sent many fine strong jazz musicians to grace our shores; among them Carlos Garnett, Billy Cobham, Mauricio Smith, and Danilo Perez (and let's not forget that Eric Dolphy's parents emigrated from Panama). All of them were technically adept and showed complete mastery of the jazz idiom. Add Jorge Sylvester to that list.
Jorge Sylvester is one of the overlooked jazz masters on the scene today. When I've seen him play live, I'm amazed at how good he is and also how few people there are in his audiences. His Alto saxophone playing is technically and formally tight and his range of emotion explores inside and outside as creatively as anyone out there. He can pop 16th notes like Cannonball and he can jump intervals like Dolphy while structurally, his improvisations are eminently musical. His compositions are complex, both rhythmically and harmonically. I can only guess how difficult to play they might be to even the most talented sight-reader (I gave up playing music after my high school years). My guess is that because Sylvester is dedicated to exploring his own compositions, he has not placed himself on the short-list of on-call session musicians here in his adopted home town of New York.
Jorge's music on this CD is in the groundbreaking mold of the best of Blue Note in the 1960s. Claudio Roditi is especially strong throughout but his work on "Illusions" is eye opening. I've had this CD for years and it still shocks me how great it sounds. When I noticed that it had only two cursory reviews, I had to set the record straight (no pun intended). This is must listening for anyone who is looking for forward looking jazz of the kind not played by the younger generation of heralded jazz musicians we have today - at least until Kamasi Washington came along. Whereas someone like Washington is channeling the Coltrane/Sanders spectrum, Jorge Sylvester is resurrecting the spirits conjured by Dolphy, Andrew Hill and Bobby Hutcherson without sounding as if he is copying anyone.

Open your ears to "Musicollage." You will not be sorry.


MORE.....  AMAZON.COM/CUSTOMER REVIEW

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