The Squid's Ear Magazine


Colon, Alfredo (Colon / Korten / Williams / Parks): Blood Burden (Out Of Your Head Records)

Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Alfredo Colon's debut album presents an engaging set of enthusiastic works rooted in the blues tradition, featuring a cover of Delta blues singer Son House and performed with his Brooklyn quartet: Lex Korten (piano, Klavins Una Corda), Steve Williams (upright bass), and Connor Parks (drums), blending lyrical expression and balanced dynamics.
 

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Personnel:



Alfredo Colon-alto saxophone

Lex Korten-piano, Klavins Una Corda

Steve Williamson-upright bass

Connor Parks-drums


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UPC: 198500704297

Label: Out Of Your Head Records
Catalog ID: OOYH 029
Squidco Product Code: 35452

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Figure 8 Studios, in Brooklyn, New York, on April 22nd, 2023, by Lily Wen.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Blood Burden is the debut album from Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Alfredo Colon. Deeply rooted in the blues tradition, Alfredo brings harrowingly raw emotion in the form of barely-contained chaos to Blood Burden - a meditation on the interplay of Dominican folklore and Catholic imagery and ethos, and an ode to his immediate family members in the face of intergenerational trauma.

Recorded at Figure 8 studios in New York with Lex Korton on piano, Steve Williams on bass, and Connor Parks on drums, Blood Burden perfectly balances Alfredo's own artistic vision with the distinct sonic languages of each of his band members-from Lex's sensitive and subtle, yet dynamic storytelling, to Steve's rhythmic intricacy and playful tests of his bandmates' ability to think on their feet, to Connor's lush, interactive, and oftentimes explosive drumming. With this, it becomes more than clear that Alfredo composes with his bandmates serving as crucial inspiration.

Each track on Blood Burden serves as a vulnerable and provocative exploration of the pain Alfredo's family carries, and how they navigate their pain through faith and doubt. Through his distinct sound and sensitive songwriting, Alfredo communicates with familial ghosts, embracing those that serve him and rejecting those that demand too much from him."-Jessie Lee Rubin, liner notes


Artist Biographies

"Alfredo Colon is a New York City native. The saxophonist was born to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic and grew up in Washington Heights. He studied under musicians such as Lee Konitz, Jason Rigby, Steve Wilson and Jacob Sacks

Colon has performed alongside musicians such as Henry Threadgill, Moses Sumney, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Nduduzo Makhathini, Amirtha Kidambi, Harish Raghavan and many others. He has performed at esteemed spaces such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Roulette Intermedium, BAM, The Jazz Gallery, The Stone, National Sawdust and a myriad of others.

Colon was awarded the Jazz Coalition Commission Fund Grant in early 2020. His piece 'A Witch Gets Married' premiered online on October 2020. The performance can be viewed here. He is also one of the recipients of Roulette's Van Lier Fellowship for 2022.

Alfredo plays P Mauriat instruments and D'Addario reeds."

-Alfredo Colon Website (https://www.alfredocolonmusic.com/about-1)
11/8/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Lex Korten is an award winning pianist and composer from New York City who has become an integral voice in the contemporary Jazz and improvised music scene in his home city and a rising star in the worldwide Jazz community. Korten's name has appeared in the New York Times and Vogue magazine, and he's established a resilient presence in the projects of artists such as MacArthur Fellow/Pulitzer Prize finalist Tyshawn Sorey, and Thelonious Monk Competition winner/Blue Note recording artist Melissa Aldana. Korten has otherwise found himself in demand by great musical luminaries including Jaleel Shaw, Mike Moreno, Joel Ross, Caroline Davis, Robert Hurst, Ari Hoenig, Jonathan Kreisberg, Joe Farnsworth, John Ellis, Dayna Stephens and Clarence Penn, as well as a near-comprehensive list of his own generation's most prominent bandleaders in Jazz and Black American Music.

Lex Korten has had ample opportunity to learn from some of the most dedicated and loving mentors in the piano pantheon, most formatively with Geri Allen and Benny Green. To help represent America's great original art form, a music with social purpose and irrevocable partnership with African-American heritage, is a privilege and responsibility Korten strives to fulfill every day. He has been fortunate enough to perform in service of this ideal at an extensive list of the most illustrious festivals and clubs on 5 continents.

In 2020, Lex Korten won the UNISA International Jazz Piano Competition and released his solo piano debut "Foreword" the following year, and continues to cultivate longstanding relationships with NYC venues like The Jazz Gallery, Mezzrow and Ornithology as a regular bandleader.

Lex has taught pianists from all over the world privately and through The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music."

-Lex Korten Website (https://www.lexkorten.com/bio)
11/8/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Steve Williams is a musician, composer, and interdisciplinary researcher based in Brooklyn, New York. Steve's work draws on his extensive experience as a performer and his anthropological background, combining experiments in ethnography and composition to create music that explores the possibilities of rhythmic intricacy while capturing wonder, texture, and humor. Deftly shifting among chamber ensembles, free improvisation, and re-imaginings of Jazz history through the music of SpongeBob SquarePants, Steve draws on a wide variety of musical traditions, internet subcultures, lived experience, and collaborations. Growing up in Dallas, Texas, Steve played bass from an early age, both in local bands and through formal jazz training at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. At The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Steve continued to expand his musical practice with Harish Rhaghavan, Michael Formanek, and Ben Street, while beginning to study at The New School for Social Research as an interdisciplinary scholar in the social sciences, focusing on the intersection of anthropology, sound studies, and internet studies. Steve graduated with a BFA in Jazz Performance and a BA and MA in Anthropology.

Steve can be seen on stage with Goldbloom, Alfredo Colon Quartet, Tiny Tree, Secret Mall, Retumbra, and various other groups in and around New York City. Maintaining an active research practice, Steve continues to explore the relationship between affect, sound, and human experience through ethnographic investigation, literary analysis, and composition."

-Steve Williams Website (https://www.stevewilliamsbass.com/about)
11/8/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Connor Parks is from Orlando, FL, where he began studying drums & percussion with Beth and Danny Gottlieb. He performed often in the Jazz and Improvised Music community, being mentored by local hero Benoit Glazer.

Connor received a BFA in Jazz studies from the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music in New York City, where he was instructed by Jane Ira Bloom, Reggie Workman, & Dave Douglas, and privately studied with Matt Wilson, Johnathan Blake, Aaron Parks, Matt Brewer, Harish Raghavan, Amir Ziv, Ben Street, Gilad Hekselman, and Dayna Stephens.

Connor has performed with Rodney Jones, Vic Juris, Darius Jones, Linda Briceño, Dave Glasser, JD Allen, Ingrid Jensen, Aaron Parks, Mcklopedia, and Kandace Springs, among many others, and currently plays with the NYC band Cafuné. He has appeared at venues ranging from the Blue Note to Madison Square Garden, and often performs at Music Festivals both internationally and in the United States.

As a composer, Connor has written music for ensembles ranging from solo performers to nonets with strings, and has collaborated with Cameron McKinney (Kizuna Dance) & the Joffrey School of Ballet."

-Connor Parks Website (https://www.connorparks.com/about)
11/8/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. V.M.C.S. 04:55

2. Our Simplest Office Clerk 07:44

3. Saint Lucy 01:32

4. Santo 05:31

5. Grinnin' In Your Face 06:02

6. Our Armor 04:32

7. St. Lucy 01:32

8. Doomknocker 06:22

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions
Melodic and Lyrical Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Quartet Recordings
New in Improvised Music
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