Yosyany Terry Quintet

Yosvany Terry: alto & soprano saxophones, chekeré
Michael Rodriguez: trumpet
Osmany Paredes: piano
Yunior: Terry bass
Obed Calvaire: drums

In saxophonist-composer Yosvany Terry’s second album as a leader, Today’s Opinion (Criss Cross), he makes a persuasive case for what jazz should be. With his stellar longtime musical partners and, on one explosive track, special guest pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Terry proposes a sonic world of Afro-Cuban polyrhythms and sophisticated contemporary angles. He taps his deep cultural roots as a Cuban as well as insights he’s gained traveling the globe. He addresses both the ancient and the immediate on the CD, framing his inspired, improvised statements and those of his colleagues in cool, tight-knit small band arrangements that offer listeners easy entry into music that’s genuinely new.

Whether out front with his alto and soprano saxophones or shaking his beaded gourd chekére, Terry shapes all of Today’s Opinion. He collaborates with many of his longtime musical partners including Osmany Paredes (piano), his brother Yunior Terry (bass), Mike Rodriguez (trumpet), Pedro Martinez (percussion and vocals) and Obed Calvaire (drums) on his latest creation, which includes a guest appearance by multi-keyboard master Rubalcaba on the track “Son Contemporaneo.” Terry, who composed eight of the nine original songs found on Today’s Opinion, once again displays the talent that caused the New York Times to say of him in 2003 that he has “helped redefine Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz as a complex new idiom.”

“Musicians are cultural ambassadors by default—constantly working with people from different cultures and traveling to different places,” Said Terry. “With Today’s Opinion I had a chance to incorporate these cultures and influences, while offering my own ‘op-ed piece’ on where I think music is and an analysis of where I see jazz headed.”

And Terry and his band are saying something in Today’s Opinion that rewards listening, something that’s a sure sign of jazz’s ongoing evolution and that may well set new standards for the music of tomorrow.

For the past decade and a half, Yosvany has been exploring a convergence of sounds and lineages with what’s swiftly becoming known as his classic quintet. Comprising members Michael Rodriguez - trumpet, Osmany Paredes - piano, Yunior Terry - bass and Obed Calvaire - drums, YTQ preserves and evolves elements of Cuban rhythms and melodic traditions, as well as global harmonies emerging from Europe and Africa.