Although tenor saxophonist Russ Nolan's new, high-stepping CD "Tell Me" (Rhinoceruss Music) is not a dance record, it is inspired, he says, by the seriously committed salsa dancing he's done over the last five years in New York's red-hot salsa scene.
Nolan, an energetic, agile saxophonist, onetime martial arts practitioner and a star basketball and baseball player in high school, has used the dance floor as his personal training ground to put an extra fine edge on his sense of time and rhythm. His well-honed skills pay off in "Tell Me" as he and his band dance through a wide variety of time signatures and Latin powered pieces.
Strutting in everything from a Brazilian baiao in 2/4 time to a bolero in 10/8 time, Nolan demonstrates his dance-enhanced jazz pieces as he leads his trio Jan. 5 at 8 p.m. at the Buttonwood Tree,Middletown. His faux pas-free disc will be one of the sources of the evening's repertoire.
When the Queens-based saxophonist started taking salsa lessons five years ago, at least part of his motivation, he acknowledges, was to meet women following the painful breakup of a relationship. Besides that romantic setback, he had recently given up martial arts after a 15-year run, and was looking for a new hobby. What he needed was a physical and mental outlet that he feels all jazz musicians can use to ease the many pressures and frustrations they face in their chosen profession.
As his official biography notes, Nolan, a onetime salsa novice, "now holds his own with seasoned break-steppers, no mean feat for a guy with his six-foot-four frame."
Most important for him as a jazz saxophonist, he's danced his way to a new sensibility, he says, even a sense of liberation when it comes to playing with time in his jazz improvisations.
"On the dance floor, you key off a rhythm," he says. "Getting it into my body helped my sense of time. I became a lot freer with rhythm."
As a salsa dancer, Nolan knew he had arrived when he got the ultimate compliment from Eddie Torres, the salsa scene's legendary innovator.
Read more: http://www.courant.com/entertainment/music/hc-riffs-1227-20121227,0,6646697.story?track=rss
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