Music Notes: Yanni Voices, Nickelback, Tiempo Libre

and more
BY ROGER BULL

Tiempo Libre: Friday, April 17

Tiempo Libre means free time, but the Cuban band has become far too busy for that. The last
couple of years has seen it become perhaps the leading voice of Cuban music around the
world. Trained in Cuba but now based in Miami, the band started off playing timba but has
been branching out in all kinds of directions. Next month, they release "Bach in Havana,"
laying their own Afro-Cuban rhythms on the music of old Johann Sebastian. They play at 7:30
tonight at the University of North Florida with the UNF wind and string ensembles. Tickets are
$10 for UNF students, $24, $28 and $32 for the public. (904) 620-2878
Glenn Astarita

Hailing from Cuba, and touted as the “first authentic all-Cuban timba band in the
United States,” the players have since relocated to Miami, Fla. Recently signing
with SONY Masterworks, the unit serves up a huge contrast via these remarkably
fluid integrations of Bach with the Afro-Cuban element.

They’ve been creating a stir due to their recordings and energized live
performances amid Grammy nominations and a wonderful release in support of
world-class flautist James Galway on O’ Reilly Street for RCA’s Red Seal label.
Moreover, this album served as my first introduction to the septet’s expansive
vernacular and superior craftsmanship. Here, the musicians forge a cerebral
musical mindset with the rhythms of life, and topped off with the Latin jazz
component. In effect, they pack a resounding punch as they keenly splice Bach’s
fugue’s and sonata’s into buoyant and emotive storylines, sparked by sassy horns
choruses and their energized solo spots.

The band uses Bach’s “Prelude No. 2 in C Minor, BWV847” for the underscore of
the piece titled “Clave in C Minor,” where they morph a complex little big band
motif into weaving textures, abetted by pianist Jorge Gomez’ cascading
progressions. And while the musicians execute like that proverbial, finely-tuned
machine, they communicate good cheer throughout.

Bach’s legendary harmonic techniques are contrasted during “Mi Orisha,” which
is based on the composer’s “Minuet from C Minor French Suite.” On this piece,
the band embeds indigenous African percussion instruments into a pulsating
schema that is softened by Gomez’ delicate piano phrasings and warmly designed
horns parts. Yet, they raise the pitch by fusing multicolored choruses and cheery
vocals into the core Latin constituent.

No doubt, the musicians ingrain their performances within a peppery and festive
Afro-Cuban panorama. Within various arrangements, they subdivide Bach
melodies into horns, and keys passages. Overall, it’s a seamless fusion of
disparate stylizations, although the ensemble projects a worldly view and express
notions that innumerable genres can coalesce within the proper hands. The
artists reinforce the premise that music in general, is a illimitable frontier.
(Album release is May 5, 2009).

*Tiempo Libre will perform at Dizzy's Club Cocoa Cola at Lincoln Center, June
30. Please visit www.tiempolibremusic.com for additional tour dates.

Jorge Gomez (Music director, arranger, keyboards, background vox), Joaquin “El
Kid” Diaz (lead vocals), Leandro Gonzalez (congas, background vox), Tebello
“Tony” Fonte (electric bass, background vox), Cristobal Ferrer Garcia (trumpet),
Hilario Bell (percussion, timbales), Luis “Rosca” Beltran Castillo (tenor
saxophone)