OUT SATURDAY 4x GRAMMY® Winning Pianist Oscar Hernández's VISIÓN (Ovation Records)

4x GRAMMY® Winning Pianist and Composer Oscar Hernández to Release New Album Visión with Alma Libre on January 22, 2022 via Ovation Records

Multi-GRAMMY® Winning pianist, composer and bandleader Oscar Hernández is proud to announce the January 22, 2022 release of his new album Visión. Supported by his long-standing quintet Alma Libre, and augmented by special guests Joe Locke, Aaron Janik and Luisito Quintero, Hernández’s third release as a leader is a powerful document that reaffirms his standing as one of the most important voices in Latin music. This is the second release for Ovation Records, a new record label founded by Hernández in 2020. 

Visión is a seminal work for the decorated artist, who described the experience of preparing and recording the project as an important creative outlet during the shutdown. “The creative process was in full force during that time,” reflects Hernández. “Recording this album was a way to react positively, and to counteract the negative circumstances surrounding the pandemic.” And so, the prolific composer added ten new compositions to his already expansive and wide-ranging repertoire. In May of this year, he and Alma Libre – his Los Angeles-based ensemble featuring the legendary saxophonist Justo Almario, drummer Jimmy Branly, bassist Oscar Cartaya, and percussionist Christian Moraga – recorded Visión, bringing these brilliant new tunes to life. The title is of significance to Hernández. “When I was young, I was taught by my family that you need to have a vision to accomplish things. I believe that if you see it and you believe it, you can achieve it,” he says. This uplifting title seemed a fitting response to the tenuous situation at the time the album was conceived.

Hernández is perhaps best known to modern-day audiences as the leader and producer of the highly acclaimed Spanish Harlem Orchestra. With Hernández at the helm, the 13-piece all-star salsa big band has gone on to win 3 GRAMMY® Awards, and release eight critically acclaimed albums, including 2018 GRAMMY® winner Anniversary. In 2020, Spanish Harlem Orchestra released The Latin Jazz Project, their first-ever all-Latin jazz release. Referred to as an “opus that dazzles” by Jazzwise Magazine, The Latin Jazz Project allowed Hernández to musically stretch and display his considerable chops. Visión continues in that tradition while showcasing Hernández outstanding musical facility in a more intimate setting. 

Oscar Hernández’s storied career dates back to the 1970’s when he began performing and recording with original salsa legends such as Ismael Miranda, Celia Cruz, Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, Conjunto Libre, Grupo Folkorico and Ray Barreto. He then went on to join Ruben Blades’ Seis Del Solar band and eventually became his Musical Director, charting the musical course for the salsa legend. Hernández soon became the Musical Director for Paul Simon as well as the orchestrator and arranger for Gloria Estefan. Hernández first recorded with Alma Libre in 2016, marked by the release of their debut The Art of Latin Jazz (Origin). In 2019, they released a sophomore effort Love The Moment (Origin). The album received worldwide acclaim, including a four star review from Downbeat Magazine that praised the “ensemble’s genius” and it was described as “harmonically sophisticated and rhythmically compelling” by The New York City Jazz Record. With Visión, Hernandez is in his element as he continues this tradition and showcases, once again, Latin jazz music of the highest caliber.

Visión

Ritmo Pa’ Ti

Doña Provi 

Chick Forever

Make The Move

Tributo al Son

Don’t Stop Now

Spring

So Believe It

Virtually Here

Oscar Hrnández - piano

Justo Almario - sax / flute

Jimmy Branly - drums

Oskar Cartaya - bass

Christian Moraga - congas / percussion

Special Guests:

Aaron Janik - trumpet

Joe Locke - vibraphone

Luisito Quintero - timbales / congas / bongod

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Pianist/Composer/Vocalist ADRIANNE DUNCAN Leads Top Ensemble on "GEMINI"

PIANIST, COMPOSER/ARRANGER, VOCALIST ADRIANNE DUNCAN LEADS A TOP ENSEMBLE ON HER NEW FULL-LENGTH ALBUM GEMINI

Three evocative vocal originals, an instrumental, and an imaginative reworking of The Police’s classic “Roxanne” take listeners on a rousing journey

“On her Gemini, the vocalist/pianist/composer proves herself an adept and compelling artist in the jazz genre, one who isn't afraid to take some chances. . . . ‘Roxanne’ is a particularly fine take on the tune, from a particularly promising jazz artist.”

— All About Jazz ★★★★

In honing her own creative voice as a rare quadruple-threat female jazz artist, pianist/composer/arranger/ vocalist ADRIANNE DUNCAN has also discovered the ideal way to present it: with the devoted group of musicians and friends heard on her inspired recording GEMINI. The versatile rhythm section features Duncan on piano with DAN LUTZ on acoustic and electric bass and JIMMY BRANLY, who mixed the album, on drums. Vibraphonist NICK MANCINI achieves a beautiful blend with Duncan’s instrument, serving the multifaceted songs with his fine touch and displaying high-level virtuosity in the bargain. A small but highly colorful contingent of woodwinds, with JOHN TEGMEYER on clarinet and KATISSE BUCKINGHAM on flute and saxophone, brings an added dimension and sparkling improvisatory flair.

Although Duncan, an Atlanta native now based in Los Angeles, followed a non-linear path to jazz, her earlier activities laid the groundwork for it in every way. She is the daughter of renowned classical guitarist and educator Charles Duncan. She grew up performing in — and winning — major competitions as a high-achieving classical pianist, also playing celeste, organ and other specialized keyboards as a member of the Atlanta Youth Symphony. Later she studied theater (earning a degree from Northwestern University), which in addition to full-time professional acting work, also led directly to singing.

Though Duncan chose not to pursue a classical piano career, she continued her deep study of music and later brought the piano back strongly into her performance, with a voice instructor’s encouragement. “These things were so separate in my mind, classical piano and singing/musical theater,” she recalls. “I was singing jazz in bands in Chicago, but I was the singer up front — I don’t think I even told anyone I played.” And yet play she does, on the level demanded of a competitive concert pianist, with a harmonic knowledge and fluid, lyrical touch of someone who’s closely studied the jazz piano legacy as well. As a self-accompanying singer, inhabiting her original story-oriented lyrics with a resonant tone and a fresh and expressive spirit, she’s furthering a tradition that spans from Nat Cole, Shirley Horn and Andy Bey to Diana Krall and Dena DeRose.

Duncan was also nurtured as a fiction writer and screenwriter starting in high school, so her approach as a lyricist tends toward the literary, and her compositions have a cinematic sense of scope. Both “Elijah” and “Home at Last” on Gemini have original short stories attached to them, readings of which Duncan hopes to include in performances down the road. The former has a relaxed tempo with enigmatic chords as the story unfolds, buoyed by riveting clarinet and tenor sax solos as the tune edges upward into double-time funk/fusion. The latter was inspired by an image Duncan saw in a dream, of an unloved trophy wife ascending in a glass elevator, somehow revealing every detail of her sorrowful life. Dark minor cadences and shifting tempos evoke an unsettled ambiance, made all the more dramatic by the imaginary French/English phone conversation Duncan overdubs in the song’s final abstract out-of-tempo moments.

“He’s Not Quite You,” which “predicts the end of a relationship” according to Duncan, stretches from a rueful ballad into a more exuberant, in-the-pocket samba feel for Mancini’s energized vibes solo over an extended coda. And the title track “Gemini,” the sole instrumental piece, reveals another facet of Duncan’s compositional gifts. The grooving, churning odd-meter structure gives ample space to all the soloists, beginning with a heated round of trading between flute and clarinet, followed by drums over an ostinato and finally vibes on the closing vamp.

“My starting to write was a direct result of studying jazz piano,” Duncan explains. “I didn’t think it would lead to composing; my intention was just to start accompanying myself. I studied with John Novello, who’s a fantastic B3 player, and I was learning all the Bill Evans voicings. I made flashcards, put them in a box and shook them up and I’d randomly get some chords next to each other, and that was how I started writing.”

But that wasn’t all: Duncan also began to reharmonize, transforming song after song, and one of these was the 1978 rock classic “Roxanne” by The Police. The characterological story-song theme suits the album and Duncan’s lyrical style, and the band digs in accordingly. “I love it when I’m listening to a song and I’m not aware what it’s going to be,” Duncan remarks. “That’s what I wanted with ‘Roxanne.’ I’m also drawn to songs that don’t necessarily have a basis in reality and also have that ‘Rashomon’ aspect of different people’s points of view. I also like songs that start one way and finish another way, and I think every one of the songs on Gemini does that. I love to be taken on a journey.”

In addition to her own project, Duncan has performed and recorded with some of Los Angeles’ most noted musicians, including Otmaro Ruiz and Catina DeLuna on the Grammy-nominated Lado B Brazilian Project, with whom she toured Brazil on keyboards and vocals. She has played and sung on numerous recordings, including The Jazz Chamber with legendary multireedist Bennie Maupin, and also performs regularly with her seven-person vocal improvisation collective Fish To Birds. She served as musical director of the show Twins for its premiere in Berlin, and founded and produced the LA Modern Jazz Series, which showcased world-class creative jazz musicians. As a producer and arranger, Duncan’s projects include albums for actor-singers Jacqueline Emerson (The Hunger Games) and Larry Wolf (Pound, Putney Swope). Her piano playing can be heard on film soundtracks including The Chameleon and The Young Kieslowski, as well as the short films Impact! The Musical and Na Na Na (Na).

1. HE’S NOT QUITE YOU 9:16

2. ELIJAH 9:55

3. GEMINI 6:56

4. HOME AT LAST 8:56

5. ROXANNE 6:00

Adrianne Duncan piano, vocals

Nick Mancini vibraphone

Dan Lutz bass

Jimmy Branly drums

Katisse Buckingham flute, saxophone

John Tegmeyer clarinet

All compositions by Adrianne Duncan except

“Roxanne” written by Sting

Arrangements by Adrianne Duncan

Produced by Adrianne Duncan

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