Grammy award winner Danilo Perez is among the most influential and dynamic musicians of our time. In just over a decade, his distinctive blend of Pan-American jazz has attracted critical acclaim whether leading his own ensembles or touring with renowned jazz masters such as Wayne Shorter and Roy Haynes. Providencia is his debut on Mack Avenue Records and musically crosses streams of jazz, classical and Latin American folk music - which Perez refers to as "hearing music in three dimensions".
The ensemble Perez has assembled for this album is itself an expression of his concept of "global jazz", an idea he carries on from his stint with the legendary Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra. Alongside the Panamanian leader, the group includes Indian-American saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, Lebanese-American percussionist Jamey Haddad, Colombian conga player Ernesto Diaz, Portuguese vocalist Sara Serpa and a Boston-based woodwind quintet. Joining them are Perez' longtime trio-mates, bassist Ben Street and drummer Adam Cruz.
Perez' conceptual farsightedness is expressed in a variety of ways on the album - from the dynamic "Galactic Panama", where Perez' insistent percussiveness and Mahanthappa's tense lines combine to great effect, to his two-part chamber piece for woodwind quintet and the trio, "Bridge of Life", a reference to Panama's role as a land bridge between North and South America. The pianist claims that it took him 25 years to create this exemplary music - it has been well worth the wait.
