Miguel Zenón

Review:

This is the thirty fourth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.

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Altoist Miguel Zenon was born and raised in Puerto Rico, was classically trained, discovered the music of Charlie Parker when he was around 16, and in 1996 began studying at Berklee.

During the past 20 years he has played adventurous jazz with the SF Jazz Collective and such notables as David Sánchez, Charlie Haden, Fred Hersch, Danilo Perez, the Mingus Big Band, Steve Coleman, Bryan Lynch and countless others in addition to heading his own groups, leading at least a dozen CDs of his own.

While Zenón is best known for playing challenging originals, on this set of unaccompanied solos from April 12, 2020, he shows that he can also be a very skilled bebopper.

Zenón performs “On Green Dolphin Street,” “Everything Happens To Me,” a rapid “52nd Street Theme,” and “Mambo Inn,” building up each solo expertly, coming up with riffs that add to the momentum of the performances, and playing a nonstop flurry of creative ideas.

Miguel Zenón demonstrates that he is very much a jazz quintet by himself.

– Scott Yanow