Today’s music industry places the independent musician as both artist and record label, ensuring that all the artistic choices follow the artist’s initial concept. Industry business people don’t influence choices about repertoire and performance approach today; instead the artist needs to create their own personal sound and promote it. Finding an audience to support their music can create a heavy workload, but a well-connected musician can easily network their recording into viable promotion channels. At this point, musicians need to connect with their audience; their artistic concept needs to be so defined that people find personal meaning the artist’s vision.

Arturo Stable’s Notes on Canvas works on a bold concept that moves beyond Latin Jazz tradition and expresses a personal side of his life. Stable was raised in an artistic family with his father working as a painter; this experience instilled the roots of this album’s concept. Each piece on the recording represents Stable’s interpretation of a historically significant piece of art. Compositions based upon the work of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Frida Kahlo, and Leonardo D’Vinci all grace the recording. One highly personal piece, “La Ventana Magica,” relates to his father’s painting, bringing his concept full circle. The music ranges from Latin rhythms to free form jazz, resulting in a collection of music both intriguing and obscure, beautiful and dissonant.

The Latin Jazz audience could potentially loose sight of the album’s concept from purely listening, but Stable’s Origen Records label take the extra step to bring the listener closer to his vision. The CD includes a fold out insert that details the connections between the compositions and the original paintings. Each song receives a full foldout page that includes the original painting - this vital piece automatically allows the listener to see Stable’s inspiration while listening to the music. Stable provides a narrative for each song as well that includes both historical information on the painting and a description of his relationship with the work. His fluid and personal writing style express a strong connection to the art world and detail his compositional choices around each painting.

In many ways, Notes on Canvas moves beyond a great set of music, but it becomes a complete and inspiring experience for the listener. The audience not only gets to hear Stable’s music, but they get to know him, both artistically and personally. Stable explains how he saw the pieces, bringing the audience into his compositional process. He offers the opportunity to look at the painting and see it through his eyes. As a result, the music challenges the listener to understand the sound, but also to make a connection to the source material. A new world arises when musicians and listeners start blending media. The combination of Stable’s music and the inclusion of the paintings and notes could just be a starting point into a new artistic realm.

Origen Records takes the album beyond music, it also serves as an educational connection to other artistic worlds for the listener. For the inspired listener, this selection of paintings serves as a starting point into a world of classic artworks. Major artists created most of the paintings, so a quick web search could lead to more examples and information. For audience members familiar with the art world, the compositions stand as a challenge to take another look from a different perspective. Other listeners may not follow the artwork at all, but the simple exposure to classic works opens their eyes. The album provides a powerful service not only to the music community, but also the art world.

Notes on Canvas demonstrates the power that a record company can exert in the expression of an artist’s concept. Without the accompanying foldout book, the album still would have been a fantastic collection of compositions. Still, it would not have truly expressed Stable’s vision that crossed artistic mediums. The notes and visuals built the bridge for the listener to travel into Stable’s world and explore art through his eyes. As a label that exists solely to promote Stable’s music, Origen Records can focus this detailed attention onto both concept and music. They set an example for both small and large labels though; one that would give listeners a richer experience and a closer connection to their artists.

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