AFRO-CUBAN ROOTS

Yosvany Terry, a New York City resident, is known as a brilliant saxophonist,chekere virtuoso, and visionary composer who masterfully melds the traditional sounds of his native Cuba with innovation, fiery post-bop, and sophisticated harmonies. Inspired by the music of the Afro-Cuban ceremonial repertoire, Terry’s new album, New Throned King, introduces the Afro-Cuban Roots: Ye-dé-gbé ensemble. It writes a new chapter of Latin jazz by drawing

on an endangered but deep branch of Afro-Cuban heritage: the Arará tradition, from the territory that is now in the African nation of Benin, formerly known as Dahomey. In the region’s Fon language, Ye-dé-gbé means “with the approval of the spirits,” and the ensemble’s music is indeed highly spirited and powerful. Featuring the core of Terry’s acclaimed Quintet augmented by three percussionists playing original Arará drums, a dancer, and collective vocal work, Yosvany Terry & Afro-Cuban-Roots: Ye-dé-gbé bring the Arará culture to new life in passionate and exhilarating performances, blending influences from West Africa, Cuba, and American jazz into an organic, highly virtuosic, and irresistibly infectious mix. The group features longstandingcollaborators: Osmany Paredes - piano, Yunior Terry - bass, Justin Brown - drums, Pedrito Martinez - percussion & lead vocals, Roman Diaz and Sandy Perez - percussion and in live performances dancer Francisco Barroso.

NEW THRONED KING

2015 GRAMMY NOMINATION BEST LATIN JAZZ ALBUM

THE VILLAGE VOICE
TOP 10 JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2014

“The call of ancestry, and its expression through folklore, has always been a potent preoccupation for Afro-Caribbean jazz musicians in the United States. Yosvany Terry, a saxophonist, percussionist and composer from an influential musical family in Camagüey, Cuba, is a leader among the current generation, which keeps finding ways of deepening its inquiry. His latest album amounts to an act of scholarship as well as musical syncretism, and some of his most arresting work. Featuring his band Ye-Dé-Gbé, it’s a celebration of Arara culture, especially as found in the Matanzas province of Cuba.”

—Nate Chinen, The New York Times

“Mr. Terry’s playing evokes Ornette Coleman’s extrapolated blues atop ritual-based handclaps and chants… Arará tradition is ancient, yet Mr. Terry expresses it in novel and urgent ways.”
—Larry Blumenfeld, The Wall Street Journal

“Steeped in the music of his native Cuba, alto/soprano saxophonist Yosvany Terry has contributed greatly to the health of the New York jazz scene since his arrival in 1999. His 2014 release follows an immersion in the Arará culture of Cuba’s Matanzas region, known for multilayered, rhythmically intense chants and percussion. Arará, like jazz, stems from the African diaspora, and Terry knows like few others how to give that connection new life.” —The Village Voice, Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2014

“This stunning music will be completely accessible to anyone who enjoys Afro-Cuban jazz, folk music or any type of world music.” —Down Beat (Editor’s Pick)

“Terry leads his band with vision; while documenting and preserving the Arará culture and rhythmic language, he artfully blends its traditional core with a contemporary approach, producing a captivating recording that engages the senses as well as the imagination.” —JazzTimes

“Throughout this fascinating album, (Terry) weaves together modern jazz, ancient chants, and more, including guest spots by Jason Moran and DJ Val Jeanty. I can’t help but feel the spirit of Dizzy Gillespie nodding in approval at this extension of Afro-Cuban jazz.” —Louisville Music News, Kentucky

“An invigorating new CD… thoroughly groundbreaking! Yosvany Terry is ingenious as he has given new life to some sacred ceremonial music.” —The Birmingham Times, Alabama

“Gloriously inspired and significant, inventive and creative… a very important addition to the literature of music… it combines the intensity of the spiritual with premonitions of future music that are at times so phenomenal that this music sounds almost paranormal.” —Latin Jazz Network

BALLET DE LAS ANTILLAS

The “Afro-Cuban Roots” project is a journey to the origins of my roots, Afro Cuban, European and Pan-American. It is important to understand the phenomenon of trans-culturalization, diaspora and common knowledge spread and shared among the Caribbean, North America, South American and the entire pan African regions to appreciate the strong music connections that this project brings about. The natural marriage between the folkloric rhythms, dances and melodies of the Afro-Caribbean heritage with the contemporary sound of Jazz, blues and classical ballets traditions is the unifying element that distinguishes this project.

Some of the challenges to undertake was to use the sacred “Bata” drums of the legacy from the Yoruba Culture as the heart of the ensemble and to incorporate the aesthetic and traditions of European classical ballet.

Afro-Cuban Roots is a project that represents a journey through the African, European, and Pan-American roots of Cuba. These roots are also common to the most parts of America and other Caribbean countries in which the process of trans-culturalization of the same African Diaspora developed into very contrasting musical styles. The geographical proximity between these countries made possible a constant interaction in which these diverse musical styles influenced each other. The musical symbiosis that have existed for more than a century between the ancestral folkloric rhythms and melodies of the Afro-Caribbean heritage and the modern sounds of Jazz and Blues is the distinctive and unifying element that distinguishes this project.