Search - Ramon Valle :: No Escape

No Escape
Ramon Valle
No Escape
Genres: Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (11) - Disc #1


     

CD Details

All Artists: Ramon Valle
Title: No Escape
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Highnote
Release Date: 2/24/2004
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Style:
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 632375942427
 

CD Reviews

Splendid Cuban piano trio jazz
Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 11/02/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some of the most exciting jazz today is being purveyed by that somewhat lowly and unlikely vehicle, the piano trio. Lowly, because of its spare instrumentation and limited range of color and dynamism; unlikely, because in this day of expanded musical endeavor in the world of jazz (hip-hop, world beat, electronica, and dizzying array ethnic musics mapped onto the various jazz staples--swing, bop, post-bop, free-bop, and free) the piano trio would seem to be too small a canvas to adequately display such musical variety. And although it is somewhat limited, in the right hands and with the right players, it can nevertheless make a huge impression and be a means for an extensive range of expression. One need only think of the grand diversity represented by such trios (among my favorites these days) as Frank Kimbrough's, The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, E.S.T., Tord Gustavsen's (Changing Places), Edward Simon's (The Process), Bill Charlap's, The Great Jazz Trio, Brennan/van der Schiff/Lee, Alan Broadbent's, Lynne Arriale's, and The Bad Plus.



You can add the Ramon Valle Trio to that list. Valle, coming from a long line of great Cuban pianists that includes Frank Emilio Flynn, Jose Maria Vitier, Emiliano Salvador, Ernesto Lecuona, Chucho Valdes, Ruben Gonzalez, Hilario Duran, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Omar Sosa, and Roberto Carcasses, was classically trained. And although the melodic polyphony one associates with classical music shines through his conception and playing, it's his polyrhythmic counterpoint mapped onto traditional Cuban folk and dance music that most impresses.



This, his second recording for ACT, following Danza Negra (unheard by me), reveals an artist of prodigious gifts in a very congenial setting. From a technical standpoint, he seems the equal of Rubalcaba, able to handle the trickiest rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic material with absolute assurance and consummate style. Moreover, he scores big with a wide variety of compositions ranging from classic Afro-Cuban to free-bop. There's a bristling urgency about these songs, and the group (Omar Rodriguez Calvo, bass, and Liber Torriente, drums) brilliantly succeeds in conveying the drama and force of this music to the listener.



I eagerly look forward to more from this Cuban piano sensation."
Perfection
George Brett | San Francisco, CA USA | 04/27/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Absolutely amazing, wonderful, beautiful, energetic, concise, fun, accomplished...can't wait for Valle to come out with more....all outstanding musicians to say the least...can only hope this trio eventually makes it to the states to tour sometime."
Ramon's Trio
Phaki | 07/24/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first listened to Ramon in Netherlands at the Bim Huis in Amsterdam. I was realy impressed by his smooth play in a trio. I always believed that a pianist expresses ones' self more fluently in a trio. I then had another ancounter with this great pianist in my home South Africa in August 2007. He was with his Trio featuring one our great saxophnist Khaya Mahlangu. After his performance he was out there signing his CD's, I bought "No Escape". I think he has moved a lot further in this CD. I am packing this CD together with my favourites like Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Steve Khun and Herbie Hancock's "Speak Like A Child"."