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Alfredo Rodríguez (pianist, born 1985)

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Alfredo Rodríguez
Background information
Birth nameAlfredo Rodríguez
Born (1985-10-07) October 7, 1985 (age 39)
Havana, Cuba
GenresLatin jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
InstrumentsPiano, synthesizer
Years active2006 – present
LabelsMack Avenue Records
Websitewww.alfredomusic.com

Alfredo Rodríguez Salicio (born October 7, 1985) is a Cuban composer and jazz pianist.

Alfredo Rodríguez is the older of two sons of Alfredo "Alfredito" Rodríguez, a professional singer, romantic song composer and television presenter and Mayra Salicio. He studied classical piano at the Manuel Saumell Conservatory, then at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory of Music and at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. Rodríguez's interest in jazz was stimulated by the annual "JoJazz" competition for young jazz musicians,[1] where he won an honorable mention in 2003.[2]

In 2006, Rodríguez was selected as one of twelve pianists from around the world to play at the Montreaux Jazz Festival. It was there that he met music icon Quincy Jones, who has since been both his producer and a mentor.

One of Rodríguez's best-known compositions was made in collaboration with Quincy, Tan Dun, and Siedah Garrett; the anthem Better City, Better Life was selected as the official soundtrack of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

In 2015, Rodríguez received his first Grammy nomination in the category "Best Instrumental Arrangement," for the song Guantanamera.

Influences and playing style

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A 2009 reviewer suggested that Rodríguez was "more a melding of Bill Evans, Kenny Werner, Fred Hersch, even touches of Thelonious Monk in conception if not execution, [with] hints here and there of his Cuban heritage".[3]

Another critic in the same year wrote that, "In one tune, his crisp bebop lines recalled Bill Evans' early playing on the George Russell mid-fifties Jazz Workshop album. Other pieces suggested the melodic inventiveness of Keith Jarrett. And still others displayed a nascent style of his own, contrasting angular, leaping passages and thick harmonic clusters with sudden, unexpected arcs of lyricism".[4]

Discography

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Year Album Label
2012 Sounds of Space Mack Avenue
2014 The Invasion Parade Mack Avenue
2016 Tocororo Mack Avenue
2018 The Little Dream Mack Avenue
2019 Duologue with Pedrito Martínez Mack Avenue
2023 Coral Way Mack Avenue

References

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  1. ^ "El jazz en Cuba: una visión joven" (in Spanish). La Jiribilla. 4 January 2008. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  2. ^ "Ernesto Vega and Luis Gonzalez Kings of JoJazz Festival". WorldMusicCentral.org. Prensa Latina. 6 December 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  3. ^ "30th Detroit International Jazz Festival Celebrates Family". Jazz Police. Archived from the original on 2011-04-04. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
  4. ^ "Live Jazz: Alfredo Rodriguez at Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc". International Review of Music. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
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