Live Sessions: EDMAR CASTANEDA

Published on Dec 1, 2014
Watch and listen to groundbreaking harpist EDMAR CASTANEDA in this exclusive performance of a traditional Colombian folk song during our 2014-15 season shoot. Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP108...

Edmar Castaneda: A World Of Music

By IAN PATTERSON, Published: November 26, 2013
The harp may be the least common instrument in jazz/improvised music—even the humble kazoo gets more of a run out. Dating back over 5,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, the harp in its various guises is common to nearly all cultures across the continents. Throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America the harp is an important element of folk music. The harp is common in Celtic music too, though in Europe it's perhaps more usually associated with the sedate airs of mediaeval court music or through-composed baroque classical music. This unique instrument has certainly done the rounds but nobody, it's safe to say, has ever played the harp quite like Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda. 

"Hearing Edmar for the first time blew my mind!" exclaims vibraphonist Joe Locke, who has played and recorded with Castaneda. "He's a very unique artist." Drummer Ari Hoenig, who has also collaborated live and in the studio with Castaneda, concurs: "What struck me about Edmar is that he can cover all the roles of a harmonic and melodic instrument as well as playing the bass lines," says Hoenig. "He has a really unique sound. When I first heard him he really blew me away. He improvises, which is rare on his instrument. The overall sound that he gets out of his instrument is just beautiful." 

Mind-blowing and unique Castaneda undoubtedly is, but not entirely without precedent. A small handful of harpists have preceded Castaneda in jazz's colorful, mongrel history In the 1930s Casper Reardon took what is probably the first recorded jazz harp solo on trombonist Jack Teagarden's "Junk Man." His swing paved the way for Adele Girard, whose improvisations on swing and Dixieland took the harp to new heights, though the instrument was still widely regarded as something of a novelty. 

In the 1950s Betty Glamann and Dorothy Ashby expanded the boundaries of jazz harp. Glamann performed on Duke Ellington's 1956 album, A Drum is a Woman, and took the harp into the realm of the so-called Third Stream when she recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1960. Ashby collaborated with post-boppers like flutist Frank Wess, drummers Roy Haynes and Jimmy Cobb, bassist Richard Davis, and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard—firmly establishing the harp as a solo jazz instrument in its own right. 

Towards the end of the 1960s Alice Coltrane placed the harp at the center of her Eastern-influenced, modal jazz explorations—though with greater emphasis on emotional weight than on any shows of virtuosity. In the intervening years the harp as a lead instrument has largely disappeared from jazz. To be sure, there have been harpists—Brandee Younger, Park Stiknee and Rossitza Milevska are notable modern practitioners—but most have had one foot firmly planted in the classical world whilst others have merely flirted with jazz alongside other genres of music.
Read more: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=45917#.UpSQopGQf8k

Album Review: Edmar Castaneda's 'Entre Cuerdas'

Harpist Edmar Castaneda's reputation has been growing steadily since his move to the United States in 1994, and seeing the list of all-star collaborators on his latest album, Entre Cuerdas, curiosity got the better of me. The result is a gem of an album: unique in texture, addictive in groove, and balanced between passionate performance and studio polish.

Novelty functions as a double-edged sword for performers of obscure instruments. On one hand, bandleaders hire what they know: who would take a chance on a harpist when the pool of good pianists is too deep to plumb? On the other hand, who can resist the urge to hear the world's premier – and to your humble reviewer's knowledge, only – master of this instrument in the jazz idiom?

Most immediately striking is the album's instrumentation. Couterbalancing Castaneda's percussive sound is the purr of trombone, well-chosen effected stabs of guitar, the ring and hum of vibraphone, a round electric bass sound, and solid drumming. Each member of Castaneda's personnel possesses the virtuosity to create a wide variety of colors on their instrument, effecting a multiplication of possible textures for each additional musician.

Marshall Gilkes' trombone playing is singular in its flexibility, allowing immediate juxtaposition of low pedal tones and high singing notes. Gilkes exhibits more virtuosity in his background riffs and melodies than most trombonists do in their most epic solos. Joe Locke's vibraphone blends impeccably with Castaneda's harp, filling out the angular melodies of “Colibri” and “Song of Hope” with characteristic warmth. His solo on the former accelerates quickly, spurned by Castaneda's energetic comping into fluttering cascades. Locke's ebullience intensifies the album, and his rhythmic confidence adds another layer of complexity to an already intricate mix.

Two-thirds of the way through Entre Cuerdas, Castaneda offers listeners a surprise change of texture on “Colombian Dixe.” An unexpected swing feel gives way to a plunger trombone solo that contrasts so greatly with the rest of the album as to challenge the continuity of the whole. “Colombian Dixe” quickly returns to a more familiar feel, and the swing is rendered ephemeral, nowhere to be found on the rest of the album. The effect could be one of humor, or it could be a hint of immaturity. One of the intrinsic challenges of listening to instrumental music is the elusiveness of objectivity in interpreting such gestures.

Entre Cuerdas is unique in its attention to textural and rhythmic counterpoint. An unusual mix of instruments adds an aspect of originality to this album that should make it irresistible to jazz fans with an appetite for novelty, while its energy and stylistic integrity should give it a solid listener base among more traditional ears.

Release Date:
July 28th, 2009 on ArtistShare Records
Personnel:
•Edmar Castaneda – Harp
•Marshall Gilkes – Trombone
•Dave Silliman – Drums/percussion
•Andrea Tierra – Voice
•John Scofield – Guitar
•Samuel Torres – Cajon
•Joe Locke – Vibraphone

Track List:
1.Sabroson
2.Entre Cuerdas
3.Jesus de Nazareth
4.Colibri
5.Song of Hope
6.Columbian Dixie
7.Canto
8.Looking Forward
9.Afro Seis
http://jazz.about.com/od/2009releases/fr/edmarcasteneda.htm

Edmar Castaneda Trio With Joe Locke At Tanglewood Jazz Festival

The superb acoustic music of young Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda weaves Cuban son, Brazilian samba, and Spanish flamenco into his lovely pan-American jazz. Castaneda and four-mallet vibesman Joe Locke perform at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in the Berkshires on Aug. 29, 2008.
http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=20&agg=1