Geoffrey Keezer Aurea gets South American Hue.
Keezer’s Aurea combines Jazz and his love of Afro Peruvian music.
Apr 20, 2009
Aurea Geoffrey Keezer’s latest project was inspired by the music he heard while on tour in Peru. Speaking in an interview; he admitted that it was the first time he had heard Afro/Caribbean rhythms and was so moved by it, he had to find a way to document what he had heard.
Gathering Musicians From The US And Around The World.
For the recording Keezer invited Peruvian percussion master Hugo Alcazar to join him. He had met Hugo while on tour and was very impressed with his musicianship. Essiet Okon Essiet, a Nigerian born bassist residing in New York was also invited along with a couple of master sax men with bright futures - Steve Wilson and Ron Blake.
Guitarist Mike Moreno and Peter Sprague share guitar duties. Jon Wikan plays drums and other percussive instrument on many songs. To round things out vocally he again tapped the South American continent and added Argentinean Singer Sofi Rei Koutsovitis.
For many of his fans, taking this direction is no surprise, after all Geoffrey Keezer have always been a pianist who was not afraid to try new ideas, or to finds ways to fuse his music with other genres.
Finding His Voice In The Musical World.
Geoffrey Keezer was born in Eau Claire Wisconsin. His parents were both music teachers and he began playing piano at the age of three.
He attended Berklee the prestigious College of music and after only completing his first year, joined Art Blakey and the Jazz messengers.
He was the last pianist to play with the Messengers, holding down the piano chair in that legendary Jazz institution for two years.
Since then he has recorded and toured with many great jazz bands including the Christian McBride band.
Since 1992 he has recorded seven albums for various labels. He has performed with Classical musicians, had his compositions commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Saint Joseph Ballet, the Mainly Mozart festival and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra.
He has also spent some time with Opera great Barbara Hendricks as her musical director and arranger.
In 2003 he paid tribute to the great Hank Jones by recording an album of piano duets featuring pianist Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Benny Green and Mulgrew Miller it was called Sublime and released on the Telarc label
Also in that year he recorded Falling Up featuring his work with Hawaiian Slack key guitarist Keola Beamer.
He followed up that genre-bender by working with Okinawan singer Yasukatsu Oshima in 2006.
With his history of searching the world for new ideas, it is no surprise that Keezer would want to record an album like Aurea after being inspired by the rhythms and the music he heard while on tour in South America.
Aurea The Project
Aurea finds Keezer working in a few different settings, from a trio to a nine piece group, using each group to share and explore the eight compositions that make up this recording. Five of the compositions were written by Keezer including the hypnotic Una Bruja Buena.
It features the wordless vocals of Sofia, some fine Sax work by Ron Blake and a great palette of percussive sounds starting from the rhythmic bass pattern that seem to be driven by Keezer himself as he plays inspired piano throughout.
Other highlights include La Flor Azul, Cayendo Para Arriba and Leucadia.
Aurea is brilliant mix of Afro rhythms, South American folk songs and great jazz colorings making it a tasty full of flavors musical romp
Aurea is available from Artist Share. For fans of Geoffrey Keezer (and there are many), this would be great addition to his discography in their home library.
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