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
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