Mid-October on the shores of the Great Lakes often means the beginning of sweater weather, but not at BOP STOP this week, where the temperature turns tropical thanks to a pair of concerts by artists steeped in the traditions of Brazil and Puerto Rico.
Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini
It’s an autumn of new arrivals for Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini Their latest release, Revolução (GroundUp Records), was released last month, and in a handful of weeks, they’ll welcome their first child (street date: December 15). So of course, they’re doing what any musical couple would do under the circumstances: tour.
It’s exactly what you might expect from the trombonist and singer who plays for big crowds as a member of Phish frontman Trey Anastasio’s band and to somewhat smaller ones in the intimate duo with her husband. And so far, it’s working out well.
“My energy’s good and playing trombone, knock on wood, has been all right as far as having enough lung capacity to do what I do,” Cressman said on a video call from the couple’s NorCal home, “but so far, I kind of feel like myself and that’s great.”
It’s certainly great for those who were at BOP STOP when Cressman and Faquini made their club debut in September 2023 (previewed here) and for anyone who has heard the duo’s beguiling recordings. Faquini’s guitar and appealingly small-scaled singing style are in the intimate tradition of Brazilian masters such as João Gilberto.
On trombone, Cressman uncannily channels the liquid, over-the-bar phrasing of the classic Brazilian singers while erupting with startling virtuosity when the music opens for soloing.
While Revolução might not sound as radical as the title suggests, it is a departure from the duo’s previous releases. “It had been a while since we had put something down that really reflects what the live experience is,” Cressman said, “and so we wanted to keep that in mind in the studio of doing something really, really organic and really indicative of how we are able to work with relatively limited resources: just our two instruments and our two voices.”
Not that Cressman and Faquini need anything more to cast an enchanting spell. The effect is like spending an evening with the charming young newlyweds who just moved in next door (not a far-fetched metaphor; Cressman and Faquini celebrated their first anniversary last week).
But beyond the seductiveness of the music, there is a more serious mission at work. “We know that what we do, especially here in the U.S., is kind of a niche thing, singing in Portuguese–and not just singing Brazilian music, because there’s a lot of familiarity with bossa nova and maybe to some degree, samba, Cressman said., “But a lot of these rhythms are not familiar to an American audience at all. So sometimes we might be the jumping off point for somebody to learn more about Brazilian music. And we take that as a great honor.”
Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini, Thursday, October 16, 7 p.m., BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, Tickets $20, available here.
Revolução is available from Bandcamp at this link.
Miguel Zenón
In the hands of Miguel Zenón the alto saxophone sings like a sonero and stings like Hector Camacho left cross. It’s an instantly recognizable approach that’s brought the Puerto Rico-born MacArthur laureate, Guggenheim fellow, Doris Duke Artist and 2024 Grammy Award winner to the summit of his craft. Recently, it’s brought him to Cleveland for two appearances, in 2023 with the Jazz Gallery All-Stars at Tri-C and with Dan Weiss’ Even Odds Trio last May ( a concert I previewed here).
So next Tuesday’s concert at BOP STOP looks to be the saxophonist’s Cleveland debut as a leader. That’s a compelling value proposition for jazz fans made more interesting by the fact that Zenón will be surrounded by some of the region’s most notable players.
One of them, Bobby Selvaggio, arranged for Zenón to come to Kent State University as a guest artist in the jazz studies program.
“We’ve had tons of great guest artists that I’ve brought in at Kent State,” Selvaggio told me by phone Saturday afternoon. “Miguel has been on my list for a while. If the pandemic hadn’t hit, I probably would have brought him in already.”
Any opportunity to hear a player of Zenón’s stature is self-recommending. Yet an equally compelling case can be made for the chance to hear how our homegrown players respond to unfamiliar material.
“Of Miguel’s tunes we’re doing ‘Residencial Llorens Torres’ and ‘Villarán,’ Selvaggio said. “We’re doing an arrangement he did for the SFJazz Collective of the McCoy Tyner tune ‘Four By Five” and ‘Las Tumbas’ [a hit for sonero Ismael Rivera].”
In pianist Theron Brown, George DeLancey on bass and drummer Zaire Darden, Selvaggio has assembled a formidable rhythm section capable of responding to the moment-by-moment flow of Zenón’s music. Of course, Selvaggio himself will be part of that flow too.
“We’ve never played together,” Selvaggio said. “We all look at somebody like Miguel, who’s such a leading voice in the music, such an important voice in the music, [but] honestly, man, I just look forward to making music with cats that take it seriously. And that’s any gig.”
Miguel Zenón, Tuesday, October 21, 7 p.m., BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, Tickets $25, available here.
For the most complete listing of jazz and jazz-adjacent events., look to Jim Szabo’s essential, weekly Northeast Ohio jazz calendar.
NOTE: This article was written by a real human being. No artificial intelligence or generative language models were used in its creation.
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