Subtlety seldom brings rewards in the life of a journeyman jazz musician. In a field overcrowded with competent colleagues, plagued by spotty media coverage and half-starved by the problems facing the music industry more generally, a gimmick is often required to garner even scant attention. Argentinian-born, New York-based trumpeter Diego Urcola—a long-time member of Paquito D'Rivera's quintet and a stalwart of the late-night NYC scene—avoids the gimmicks on Appreciation, his fourth outing as a leader. Instead, he pushes his Sisyphean rock of charming compositions, strong solos and Latin-tinged groove up the hill of notoriety. And, though the results may not win him the cover of Time any day soon, he sticks to the basics on a set that impresses without imposing.
The conceit, of course, is that each of the tunes is nominally offered to one (or more) of Urcola's musical heroes. There are a few stylistic hat-tippings throughout: the opening of the Freddie Hubbard-inspired "The Natural" borrows a fanfare from "Red Clay" before launching into a sprightly neo-bop burner, and he navigates a Harmon-muted middle register for the length of the Miles Davis tribute, "Deep." With or without the track titles, one listen to the album is all it takes to understand Urcola's debt to Hubbard or Woody Shaw, or to pick up on pianist Luis Perdomo's amalgam of McCoy Tyner's racing right-hand runs and Horace Silver's chunky left-hand interruptions. The real tribute here is to jazz music itself, in its capacity to absorb a variety of influences and yet produce a quick hour of consistently strong music.
It is a bit difficult to strongly recommend one track over another, as the sheer competence of the group's playing settles them into a sort of complacent middle ground in some stretches. "Super Mario Forever" gets the blood flowing, however, and Urcola's solo is a good example of the strength of his playing, and thus why this album is so pleasing at its best. Even at the track's elevated tempo, his articulation is precise, his melodic ideas are logical and evolve naturally, and he develops a scintillating, two-way conversation with drummer Eric McPherson before the hand-off and subsequent traded bars. The album closer "Camila," nodding obliquely at Coltrane's "Naima," makes a case for his versatility. McPherson's rumbling mallets and bassist Hans Glawischnig's steady, syncopated pulse give Urcola (muted once again) enough room to lyrically caress the melody, developing it into a tense, moody space at which the opening theme barely hints.
Though Urcola has been nominated for three separate Grammys for his work elsewhere, a set of straightforward, well-played tunes is unlikely to attract similar recognition. Hopefully the trumpeter has found a comfortable enough space professionally that he no longer worries about such accolades, so that he will continue to write such attractive compositions, refine his already-impressive playing and gather his talented friends to play them with such élan. - Charles Walker
Trumpeter Diego Urcola's is a voice that has remained somewhat hidden—certainly tucked away—for two decades in Paquito D'Rivera's quintet. And then there is the subdued role he has played in Guillermo Klein's fabulous larger ensemble, Los Guachos. However, the graceful candor of his voice is irrepressible, and it was only a matter of time before he would be heard for what he really is and plays. Urcola is distinct and a singular artist in the manner of his more famous countryman, Gato Barbieri, playing with sensuous swagger and digging deep into his own soul for even the slightest note. This mortal risk-taking is something for which Barbieri is well-known, and with his own immaculate sense of grace, absolutely bereft of inhibition Urcola begs favorable comparisons with the much older tenor saxophonist.
The trumpet resides in a cluttered world and not even its softer relative, the flugelhorn, can serve to set horn men who favor this burnished brass instrument apart from the pack that always seems to advance like the frontline of an ancient army. Still, someone like Charles Mingus was able to pick Thad Jones, and more significantly, the mysterious, Clarence Shaw from out of the clutter. Jones, he called "Bartok with valves," and Shaw's language and phrasing left him breathless. Then there is Wallace Roney, and Arturo Sandoval. To these, the name of Diego Urcola must be added; to understand why, it pays to peruse Urcola's Appreciation.
Here is an example of a gargantuan challenge, one where the artist has chosen to pay homage to a host of peers and mentors, wholly different characters that have pursued widely divergent paths. And yet, Urcola brings it all together, to fruition with a mighty effort that defines each musician—from Freddie Hubbard, Hermeto Pascoal and Guillermo Klein to John Coltrane and Astor Piazzolla. In doing so, Urcola traverses the soundscape of Lydian modes, bebop, the Brazilian partita alto, and Klein's wildly inventive meters, using what the Guachos did—7+7+7+3. Urcola's tribute to Woody Shaw and Dizzy Gillespie, "Woody 'n Diz," offers a masterful use of the flatted fifth, while "El Brujo" sings of the fire and irrepressible creativity of Pascoal in that rarely used Brazilian rhythm. Urcola's tribute to his long-term employer, D'Rivera, is an astounding milonga song-style, in the manner of Astor Piazzolla.
Urcola is blessed to have the artistry of pianist, Luis Perdomo, a master of that elusive Latin rhythm that actually resides hidden in the melody and is only brought forth by superlative tumbao, something few pianists possess. Drummer Eric McPherson is truly a revelation, in the deft manner in which he negotiates the maddeningly complex rhythms, especially that invented by Guillermo Klein in a 7+7+7+3 part. He is no doubt aided on "The Natural" by Yosvany Terry on chekere, but then there is the partita alto and all the other tantalizing modes that follow. - Raul d'Gama Rose
Tracks
1. The Natural (to Freddie Hubbard)
2. El Bruno (to Hermeto Pascoal)
3. Milonga para Paquito (to Paquito D'Rivera)
4. Super Mario Forever (to Mario Rivera)
5. Guachos (to Guillermo Klein & Los Guachos)
6. Deep (to Astor Piazzolla & Miles Davis)
7. Senhor Wayne (to Wayne Shorter)
8. Woody'n Dis (to Woody Shaw & Dizzy Gillespie)
9. Camilla (to John Coltrane)
HANS GLAWISCHNIG bass
ERIC McPHERSON drums
LUIS PERDOMO piano
DIEGO URCOLA trumpet, flugelhorn, valve trombone, vocals
YOSVANY TERRY chekere (1, 8)
All composed and arranged by Diego Urcola
Recorded February 4 & 5, 2010 at Sear Sound Studio, New York
C.A.M. Jazz – CAM 5041