There are multiple elements that drive Latin Jazz musicians to produce outstanding improvisations within the course of an evening, album, or even over a whole career. The foundation of any artist’s improvisational voices lies in their background study and artistic development; artists with extensive mastery of musical languages have more tools to build cohesive statements. Musicians with limited backgrounds often finely tune a few aspects of their musicianship and express themselves within variations upon those elements. The artist’s collaborators inspire great flights of creativity through their interactive presence and the type of support they give the improviser. Sometimes the comfortable presence of familiar musicians eases an artist into a higher plane or other times the spontaneous excitement of a new group of musicians can inspire unexpected results. Context also effects an artist’s performance, and it certainly plays a major part in an improviser’s creative output. The cultural context shapes the harmonic and rhythmic content of a piece of music – an artist’s familiarity with that cultural context defines their improvisational freedom. The actual performance space is another contextual element that drives a musician; from an informal jam session to a high profile concert, each context contains a different set of pressures and liberties. Once all these elements come together into that one magical moment, the artist delivers a deeply effective statement that burns itself deeply into our memories.

Our recent look at some of the Latin Jazz world’s great bass soloists, 7 Unforgettable Latin Jazz Bass Solos, featured an improvisation from Edward Perez on his composition “Yo No Como Camote” from the Eric Kurimski album Réplica – a perfect example of all these elements coming together. Perez brings a strong musical background into his work as a professional improviser – his knowledge base encompasses a broad understanding of jazz, Afro-Peruvian, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and Columbian music, as a starting point. This deep level of understanding provides Perez with a perceptive viewpoint upon the music and allows him to offer a thoughtfully constructed approach. His collaborators on the track consisted of many musicians that regular perform with Perez – guitarists Kurimski and Sergio Valdeos as well as percussionist Juan Medrano Cotito have all shared the stage with Perez. The familiarity and confident support opened Perez’s improvisational options. The relationship that Perez built into his solo with the context – Afro-Peruvian Jazz – really made this a groundbreaking solo. While Perez intelligently spoke the melodic language of jazz with his note choices, he conversed through the Afro-Peruvian festejo with his rhythmic performance. There’s depth and beauty powerfully inserted into this improvisation, making it a solo that bass players interested in Afro-Peruvian Jazz need to hear.

When an artist performs the same song with a different set of musical elements, the resultant improvisation often contains interesting musical results – we’ve got an example of that today with this video of Perez performing “Yo No Como Camote.” The strong musicianship that forms the core of Perez’s style never disappears; he exerts a defined artistic presence throughout the performance. While the cultural context remains the same – the jazz harmony and melody still rides over an Afro-Peruvian festejo rhythm – the performance space is definitely different. Rather than a studio recording, this is a live performance from the tribute to Felix Pasache in the callejón del buque, La Victoria district in Lima, Perú. Only one musician from the Réplica session appears here – Cotito. The rest of the musicians include Rafael “Fusa” Miranda on saxophone, Ernesto Hermoza on guitar, and Hugo Alcazar on drums. There’s a different statement here, but one that displays the consistent vision behind Perez’s improvisational voice. Enjoy!

Edward Perez Performing “Yo No Como Camote”

For more outstanding bass playing from Edward Perez, check out:
The Year Of Two Summers, Edward Perez

Réplica, Eric Kurimski

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Do you have a video to contribute to satisfy our weekly Latin Jazz video fix? If so, send it in – it’s time to feed our addiction. I’m looking for live performances, from any context. I’ll most likely be posting one video per week, but if you’ve got another idea, let’s talk. So come on Latin Jazz videographers, musicians, and fans – let’s share some of our memorable videos! Get my contact info HERE

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Afro-Peruvian Jazz Videos
Exploring The Low End: 5 Latin Jazz Bassists On Video
Creating Authentic Buzz: Gabriel Alegria and Sofia Koutsovitis On Video
Focusing The Spotlight: Manante On Video

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