Since first
joining forces over a quarter-century ago, vocalist Mili Bermejo and bassist
Dan Greenspan have created a recorded library of timeless music with a number
of cherished partners. For those
fortunate enough to experience them in live performance, however, the lingering
memory of this brilliantly skilled and totally compatible couple is likely to
be the moments when they stand alone.
"We have always wanted to make pure music," Greenspan
explains, "and have always included duo tunes in our sets." On October 7, 2016 the pair releases their
first all-duo program in two decades, Arte de Duo, on Ediciones Pentagrama.
Bermejo,
born in Buenos Aires, raised in Mexico City and a professor at Berklee College
of Music since 1984, and Greenspan, a New Haven native and classically trained
cellist who became one of the Boston area's leading freelance bassists, have
created a unique body of music that applies jazz improvisation to original
songs and music from throughout the Americas.
Themes of political liberation, environmental responsibility and
interpersonal commitment have defined both their music and their career and led
them to a major life decison. "The
business changed so much post-9/11 that we had to decide whether we should
reinvent ourselves," Bermejo notes.
This led to what Greenspan describes as "an entire creative
undertaking of another kind" - a move to New Hampshire, where the couple
built their own house.
"We
decided to live the right way," Bermejo says of their relocation to a
nature reserve. "It has brought us
closer and closer to `do it yourself,' including growing as much of our own
food and making as many of our own clothes as possible. It has purified us, and removed many of our
frustrations." But, Greenspan adds,
"For a while, the move replaced music.
Finding opportunities to rehearse in Boston when everyone we worked with
had so many other gigs became hell."
The bassist also turned his attention to baking and has built a growing
reputation with his Dan's Brick Oven Bread, while a construction accident also
left him unable to play for several months.
The future of their performing partnership became unclear.
"But
Mili insisted that we couldn't let the music go," Greenspan stresses, and
the result is a new focus on the intimate artistry that had previously only
been showcased on their 1997 album Duo which was released on Gunther Schuller's
GM Records. "It got us back to the
essence of art," he says, "and provides the best opportunity to use
all of the classical information that we have." Yet the new music, developed over a series of
monthly gigs at the Lilypad in Cambridge, Massachusetts, takes the pair beyond
their previous achievements. "We
didn't want to repeat ourselves," Bermejo adds. "Now we reduce. I think of the music like my garden, as being
all about beauty after years of work.
And nobody told me how to do it."
The
influence of life in New Hampshire is clear in the Bermejo originals "La
Casa del Arbol" ("The Tree House"), about "a secret
refugeŠamong trees and stars" and "Cosecha"
("Harvest"); but she also contributes two new titles in her string of
beautiful love songs, "Los que se Aman" ("Those Who Love")
and "No Dejo de Quererte" ("I Don't Stop Loving You"). The duo also links Bermejo's "Décima
Muerte I" from their first duo disc and "Décima Muerte II" by
the Mexican poet and playwright Xavier Villarrutiga in a medley linked by a
powerful Greenspan solo.
Greenspan's
bass also launches "Las Orillas del Mar" ("At the Edge of the
Sea"), a 13th Century feminist poem with music by Hafez Modirzadeh, the
composer-saxophonist who featured Bermejo extensively on his acclaimed 2011
album In Convergence Liberation (Pi Recordings). "Working with Hafez is the most
challenging thing I've done," she notes, "and it has opened both of
our minds. Now I'm improvising more,
though not `taking a chorus' in the traditional sense." This new improvisational freedom is joyously
displayed on "Tres Veces Heroica" ("Three Times Heroic"),
written by Mexican composer Charlie Dríguez and previously heard on the 2006
live recording De Tierra (Of Earth) (Ediciones Pentagrama), and "End of
the Beginning," written for the duo by the Armenian-born pianist and
composer Vardan Ovsepian.
"Windmills of Your Mind," by French composer Michel Legrand
with Spanish lyrics by Manuel Gurria, was also arranged by Ovsepian. "Vardan's arrangement got Dan back in
shape after his injury," Bermejo notes, adding with a laugh, "it also
made me get back in shape."
Two works
from Argentina are included, "Equipaje" ("Luggage") by Juan
Quintero and "Cambalache" ("Pawn Shop") by E. Santos
Discépolo. The latter, a classic tango,
gives Greenspan the opportunity to display his skill with the bow.
"Candombe para Gardel" ("Candombe for Gardel"), a tribute
to Argentinian tango master Carlos Gardel from the Afro-Uruguayan perspective
of Rubén Rada, completes the program.
Arte del Duo
is Bermejo's fifth release on Mexico's Ediciones Pentagrama label, which
recently received the Independence Award from the Fundación Mediterránea Mar y
Tierra in Tarragona, Spain. "We've
stayed faithful to the vision of [label founder] Modesto López: Independence
and 35 years of support to Latin American artists dedicated to progressive
social change," she notes.
The album
will be released at the Lilypad on Sunday afternoon, October 23, where a new
audio system created especially for the duo by sound engineer Art Steele will
enhance the performance. "I asked
Art for a minimal system, with just two small speakers, Greenspan
explains. "Now my hands are free,
just like my mother's were when she sang," Bermejo adds.
Creativity,
and the magic that ensues, remain at the heart of Mili Bermejo's and Dan
Greenspan's music; and Arte del Duo is their most creative and magical
statement to date.
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