MUSIC

PABLO ABLANEDO OCTETo "Altogether, the sound is definitely jazz but distinctively Argentinean" OCTETo: Fernando Brandao (flutes) Phil Grenadier (Trumpet) Daniel Ian Smith (saxes) Kelly Roberge (saxes & clarinet) Phil Sargent (guitar) Pablo Ablanedo (piano & composition) Fernando Huergo (bass) Franco Pinna (drums) "With his latest effort, Argentine pianist/composer Pablo Ablanedo pronounces a sense of joy. In the liners the artist emphasizes that this work "alludes to the happiness of creation." To that end, Ablanedo and his octet disseminate a set of emotive musings via a Spanishtinged luster combined with polychordal horn charts and more." (4 ½ stars) Glenn Astarita, Down Beat Magazine (US) "Argentine composer Pablo Ablanedo makes a disarmingly gentle but firm debut notable more for his ascetic, introspective writing than his low-profile piano. This band plays the through-composed and chamber-like pieces understatedly rather than in-your-face, slowly unfolding a mature, inclusive world vision." (4 stars) Fred Bouchard, Down Beat Magazine (US) "...be sure that Pablo Ablanedo's work has its own personality: you will be pleased to listen and listen to From Down There.” Claude Colpaert, Jazz Hot Magazine (France) "It would be a mistake to pigeonhole the pianist/composer Pablo Ablanedo as a "Latin jazz artist”: the lush, complex weave of his writing for octet on the new Alegría (Fresh Sounds) has as much to do with Gil Evans as with the tangos of Ablanedo's fellow Argentine, Astor Piazzolla." Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix (US)