First Listen: Alfredo Rodríguez, 'The Little Dream'

Alfredo Rodríguez's The Little Dream is out Feb. 23 on Mack Avenue Records.

Anna Webber/Courtesy of the artist

by ACKSON SINNENBERG
February 15, 20185:01 AM ET

Alfredo Rodríguez is a figurehead of the new generation of Cuban jazz musicians who observe and honor their roots while constantly seeking new avenues for expression. The 32-year-old pianist's new album, The Little Dream, evokes Keith Jarrett, Jaco Pastorious and Pat Metheny in equal parts, but the rhythms of Cuba, those guïro grooves can get anybody reeling and rocking, are etched into the music's bones.


Rodríguez, bassist/guitarist Munir Hossn and drummer Michael Olivera flesh out ethereal, almost pastoral soundscapes, lending a delicate, child-like wonder to the album's heaviest compositions. In "Bloom," the melodies spread and grow, as if they were mirroring the growth and blossom of some magnificent, delicate flower. "Tree of Stars" shrinks the vastness of a starry night into a piquant, delicately pointed rendering of each star's twinkle. "World of Colors," an almost solo feature for Rodríguez, captures ecstatic joy and melancholy in the span of 120 seconds.

read more at: https://www.npr.org/2018/02/15/585474715/first-listen-alfredo-rodr-guez-the-little-dream