Magos Herrera's "Distancia"

This past Wednesday morning, I got word from my main man Patrick Jarenwattananon at NPR Music that the anticipated review of Magos Herrera‘s new disc Distancia was going to air on NPR’s All Things Considered that day, I was pretty stoked (to use the parlance of our times).  While performing that day’s other tasks (organizing a mailing with Stephen, preparing press releases and advance lists), I missed the story airing live on the radio but caught it online about an hour after it aired.  Reviewer Tom Moon‘s enthusiastic review of the disc catapulted the CD straight to the Top 50 in Music on Amazon.com.  And as of tonight, almost 4 days later, Distancia still sits at #85 in the overall music rankings on Amazon and after a day-long reign on Thursday at #1 on the iTunes Jazz album chart (followed by most of Friday at #2), Magos is now at #6 on that chart.  Not too shabby.  Look out for Magos performing live at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on July 3rd and at the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 12.

Steve Lehman at Columbia University

That NPR hit alone would have made for a great week for Fully Altered, but we also had some excellent press run in advance of saxophonist Steve Lehman‘s forthcoming album Travail, Transformation and Flow (Pi Recordings), which is due out this Tuesday, June 9th.  There is also a show this Monday June 8th at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City, currently the only planned show with the full octet from the recording.  This challenging new album is the first jazz album to explore spectral harmony, a sound analysis process that is used to inform compositional and improvisational decisions.  Steve’s Monday show was given a Top Live Music preview in Time Out New York by David Adler and a starred listing in Friday’s New York Times by critic Nate Chinen.  In addition, Chinen put a laudatory blurb on the new album in his Playlist which ran in this weekend’s New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure section (Page AR21).  That’s a pretty good week for Lehman and Travail, which two weeks ago was reviewed by New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff on the May 26th edition of WBGO’s The Checkout and interviewed by show creator and host, Joshua Jackson on the show’s June 2nd episode (both made an appearance on NPR Music‘s brand spankin’ new jazz blog, A Blog Supreme). Rumor has it that the show will also be reviewed by a New York Times critic (fingers crossed).

Rudder's "Matorning"

And if that weren’t enough, we happen to know that Fully Altered client Rudder are also expecting a CD review to run on All Things Considered sometime this week or next from music contributor David Was.  And look for upcoming press breaks on Ultrahang, the newest album by Fully Altered client Chris Potter Underground, released via ArtistShare, including a 4 STAR review in today’s Detroit Free Press by Free Press jazz critic Mark Stryker.

Chris Potter's New Album, "Ultrahang"

Magos Herrera – Distancia (Sunnyside Records)
Release Date: May 05, 2009

If you listen to “Salt of the Earth,” the sensational track from saxophonist Tim Ries’ recent Sunnyside release, Stones World, you’ll hear a sensuous and thrilling contralto voice that swings and sighs, like no other. That voice belongs to the brilliant and beautiful, Mexican-born, New York-based singer, Magos Herrera. Like Luciana Souza and Claudia Acuna, she is a world-class jazz vocalist in the literal sense of the word: She’s fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and is likewise proficient in deciphering and delivering the syncopated science of jazz, and Afro-Hispanic musical genres. Her gifts are on full display on her Sunnyside debut, Distancia, supported by an exceptional rhythm section featuring guitarist Lionel Loueke, pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Ricky Rodriguez, drummer Alex Kautz, with background vocalists Ingrid and Jennifer Beaujean. Buoyed by that stellar lineup, Herrera delivers a delicious, dancing and diverse ten-track potpourri of original songs, and standards by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Milton Nascimento, and Cesar Portillo de la Luz.

Magos’ love and thanks come through loud and clear on this disc – co-produced by Tim Ries. Her self-penned songs “Reencuentro” “Tu Ojos,” “Staying Closer,” “Alegria,” “ New Song”are pulsed by scintillating vocal percussion, interlocking, Pan-Afro/American rhythmic structures, tinges of Joni Mitchell-style rock timbres, and flamenco-flavored handclaps. Magos reinterprets the works of master composers with equal verve. She updates Caesar Portillo De la Luz’s famous bolero “Tu, Mi Delirio,” with a kind of “quiet storm” vibe. Nascimento’s “Vera Cruz” is resurrected with a deep groove, which morphs into a spirited Tower of Babel-style vocal beat box. And Jobim’s “Retrato em Blanco E Preto,” “Inutil Paisaje,” and “Dindi” are rendered in impassioned ballad, bossa nova-scat, and John Coltrane-ish settings.

If, as the saying goes,  “it takes a village to raise a child,” then it takes an musician open to all of the world’s musical hues and grooves to produce an artist like Magos Herrera. Born in Mexico City, Herrera graduated from the Musicians Institute of Technology, and studied at Mannes College of Music, the New England Conservatory, and privately with opera teacher Konstantin Jadan. She moved back to Mexico City in 1998, where she released her first CD, Cajuina (Independent, 1998), followed by Whispering Orchids (Opcion Sonica, 2000), Mexican Divas II/III (Opcion Sonica, 2001-2002), Pais Maravilla (JM Distributors, 2003), Magos Herrera Compilacion (Mecca Records, 2004), Todo Puede Inspirar (EMI Music, 2005), and Soliluna (JM Distribuidores, 2006). She has toured Latin America, India, Japan and the United States . Over the past 4 years, through her pro-active love for music, she produced and hosted two television programs on public television that promoted music for Mexico’s channel 22, bringing on featured guests such as Ute Lemper, Jerry Gonzalez, Diego el Cigala, and many others.

Magos Herrera has evolved into a global-centric musician, capable of expressing herself in a multiplicity of languages, and vocal settings; from straight-ahead, ballads, scats, and the various dimensions and invention of Afro-Latin music. As Distancia, proves, no style of music is distant from her.

May 20, 2009
Jazz Standard – CD Release Concert
116 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016, US
(212) 576-2232 or http://www.jazzstandard.net/
2 sets: 7:30 & 9:30.
Cover: $20.
Lineup: Magos Herrera – vocals; Aaron Goldberg – piano; Ricky Rodriguez – bass; Alex Kautz – drums; Ingrid Beaujean – vocals; Jenny Beaujean – vocals