Focusing The Spotlight: A Little Bit More About Manny Silvera

Our current Spotlight Artist Manny Silvera brings an exciting and intelligent concept of contemporary Latin Jazz big band music to his latest release Bassed In America. Silvera writes with a honest connection to the early Latin Jazz big band music that established the style while continuing to look forward with modern approaches. There’s a solid blend of past and present that balances every swinging mambo with a funky groove. Silvera composes with a vast awareness of the modern Latin music world, calling upon ideas from Cuban timba and New York salsa throughout the album. Every track includes a serious dance setting that will surely please any audience and get them moving quickly. At the same time, there’s a major jazz aesthetic blended into the album that will keep the artistic ears listening. Sharp harmonic writing and clever arrangements provide plenty of space for a long list of improvisors, driven by an outstanding rhythm section. Silvera utilizes two large ensembles on the album, calling upon musicians both from Los Angeles and his home in Medellin, Columbia. Pianist Jorge Cottes adds significant amounts of performance energy and arranging skills into the album and some of the wonderful soloists include trumpet player Luis Bravo and Juan Giraldo. Bassed In America delivers a modern look at Latin Jazz big band writing and performance that both thrills and inspires – it’s worth checking out.

Bassist and composer Manny Silvera has been in Los Angeles for a while, and you can track his impact across several websites. You can befriend Silvera, check out his music and photos, as well as send messages to him through his MySpace page. If you’d rather write on Silvera’s wall, chat in real time, or become a fan, you can find Silvera at his Facebook page. Bassed In America is available online both as a physical mail order and a digital download – find the details and listen to samples at the CDBaby page. Silvera released another great Latin Jazz album a few years back that places his deep musicality in a smaller setting – you can find the album, Origen and check out samples HERE. Silvera has played with a number of great Los Angeles Latin Jazz groups, including percussionist Bobby Matos’ Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble; you can find Silvera’s bass on several of that group’s albums, including Chango’s Dance and Footprints. There’s a wealth of ways that you can check out Silvera’s music online; take the time to listen and get to know this superb musician.

If you like the powerful sound of a Latin Jazz big band combined with modern musical ideas, you’ve got to check out Bassed In America. Silvera stands out as an intriguing performer and composer, so I’ve included some information below to help you get to know him better. There’s some biographical information pulled from his websites as well as a video of Silvera discussing the album in both Spanish and English (you’ll hear bits of the album in the background too!). Cruise around and check out Silvera’s work, it’ll get you moving and inspired – enjoy!

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Manny Silvera was born in Panama City and raised in Medellin, Colombia. He began studying his instrument, the bass, as a child. Among his early influences were Charles Mingus and Ruben Blades. As a young man, he relocated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, where he almost immmediately began working as a musician, in both the jazz and salsa genres. Silvera has been a part of Bobby Matos Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble and Johnny Polanco’s Conjunto Amistad. Always in demand, Silvera has played and recorded with numerous stars, including Johnny Pacheco, Alfredo de la Fe, Jimmy Boch, Tito Nieves, and Tito Puente Jr. On his first release, Origen, Silvera passionately demonstrates his love of jazz and Latin music.

Recorded over a four year period, Bassed In America pushes Silvera’s concept even further. Two of the ten tracks were recorded in Hollywood, CA using LA’s most versatile and admired Latin jazz players. The other eight tracks were recorded in Silvera’s hometown, Medellin, Colombia, South America. The esteemed pianist, arranger, and producer Jorge Cottes collaborated with Silvera on the project. The two men became friends when they were teenagers playing together in a salsa orchestra. Each of the Colombian musicians is a master in his own right.  Silvera’s inspiration for this project came from Latin American composers and writers. “Paulo Coelho and Gabriel Garcia Marquez inspired a lot of people when I was growing up in Colombia.” The tracks “Gabo” is dedicated to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. “Portobelo” is dedicated to the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho.   Bassed In America differs from Silvera’s first album Origen in the orchestration. While Origen is primarily in a jazz combo format, this album expands into a big band format on eight tracks. Bassed In America has a quality sound and production values. It is able to compete with anything there is in the world of Latin jazz.   Fans of Silvera will enjoy listening to the evolution of his song writing skills. At present, Silvera is a highly original, skilled composer

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Manny Silvera On Bassed In America