PRISM Quartet & Miguel Zenón - El Eco de Un Tambor (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

“El Eco de Un Tambor is an extended, multi-movement saxophone quintet that draws on rhythmic traditions from around the globe, focusing specifically on drumming from West Africa and its extension into Afro-Caribbean music. The title is an allusion to both the percussive elements within the piece and to the idea of music as an ancient language that is in constant evolution.”

Picture the impact of one hand striking a single drum. The reverberations from that sound ripple outward, impacting and affecting the listeners in its path in unpredictable ways, some subtle, some life changing. In microcosm this is the history of music itself, as it has evolved from a primeval rhythmic instinct to the most exquisite and complex of modern composition.

That sonic image came to mind as I listened to “El Eco de un Tambor,” written by the Grammy-winning saxophonist/composer Miguel Zenón for the world-renowned PRISM Quartet. “El Eco de un Tambor” – The Echo of a Drum – the title encapsulates the beating, percussive heart of Zenón’s music. Throughout his career he’s been fascinated with the way that rhythms and traditions have resonated from West Africa and the Afro-Caribbean diaspora into myriad musical cultures – one trajectory following his own journey from his native Puerto Rico to the U.S. and acclaim in the jazz world.

The drum’s echo is faint in this percussion-less ensemble – or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it’s transmuted, as Zenón splits rhythmic ideas (prismatically, appropriately enough) between the individual saxophonists, with an emphasis on the individuality of each player. Over the last decade these five saxophonists have discovered a scintillating chemistry. It would be reductive to refer to their collaboration as simply a melding of jazz and classical traditions; theirs is a meeting of exploration-minded virtuosity and discovery.

In his piece, Zenón treats PRISM as an aggregation of individuals, akin to a drum kit come to life. The saxophones become percussion instruments not on their own – each separate line soars or stutters or weaves melodically – but in the ways that each is layered upon the others, a vigorous groove arising from their interactions like a propulsive illusion.

The voices circle each other elegantly on the opening “Tema” and its bookending reprise; they collide and ricochet on “Repica;” they shimmer and refract on “Variacion #1;” they engage in spirited choreography on “2 de Febrero” and they chase one another playfully on “Variacion #2.” The pulse finally becomes explicit on “Jaleo,” as the players clap out the time, as if so possessed by the dynamic movement of Zenón’s music that their hands can no longer stay on their horns. Who can blame them? Listening to this compelling collaboration, one can only get swept along, swaying to the beat, reverberating with the next echo of the drum.

Tracklist:
01 El Eco de Un Tambor_ 1. Tema
02 El Eco de Un Tambor_ 2. Repica
03 El Eco de Un Tambor_ 3. Variación #1
04 El Eco de Un Tambor_ 4. Dos de Febrero
05 El Eco de Un Tambor_ 5. Variación #2
06 El Eco de Un Tambor_ 6. Jaleo
07 El Eco de Un Tambor_ 7. Tema Final


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