New CD, “Tales From The Earth” (OTA1020)

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New CD, “Tales From The Earth” (OTA1020)

We are pleased to announce the release of the new Mark Weinstein-Omar Sosa CD, “Tales From The Earth”, on October 13, 2009. Available now on this website, and on iTunes.

Tales from the Earth. A thoroughly cosmopolitan outlook rooted in the rhythmic intensity and improvisatory, call-and-response spirit of Africa writ large. Artists of Cuban, Haitian, West African (Bnin, Ivory Coast), European, African American and Jewish American heritage, entering a Berlin studio for two days of intensive recording, without music or a predetermined conception, only a shared commitment to the communal, celebratory character that embodies the expressive riches of Mother Africa.

Flautist Mark Weinsteins groundbreaking Cuban Roots (1967) melded the influences of Mingus, Machito, Puente, Tjader, and Palmieri, carried forward into the present with his recent collaborations, Cuban Roots Revisited, Algo Ms, and now, Tales from the Earth. Weaving a musical lineage of a thousand strands, if Tales from the Earth recalls something of the creative spirit of MBoom, the inventive all-percussion octet founded by Max Roach in 1970, it captures the global ecumenical spirit of the present.

Accordingly, Tales from the Earth resounds with the Afro-Cuban traditions of Omar Sosabest known as a pianist and composer, but here primarily on marimba and vibraphone, which Sosa studied in Cubas conservatories before switching to piano. It features the eclectic guitar talents of Jean Paul Bourelly (Miles Davis, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, Pharoah Sanders, Cassandra Wilson); the resonant balafon of Aly Keitas Ivory Coast; the insistent drum n bass sensibilities of Stockholm-based Marque Gilmore (Roy Ayers, Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Toumani Diabate, Vernon Reid, Joe Zawinul, MeShell Ndegeocello, Susheela Ramen, Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh); the vocal and percussive vitality of Aho Luc Nicaise and Mathias Agbokou; and the fresh, ever-surprising turns of phrase that each artist invests in this pioneering project.

Tales from the Earth weaves a musical narrative that can be read as a journey to the source of the human spiritwith all the playfulness, celebration, contemplation, historical awareness, compassion, reverence, and gratitude manifest in a life consciously lived.

Co-produced by Mark Weinstein, Omar Sosa, and Jean Paul Bourelly, Tales from the Earth embraces the radical challenge laid down by Monk long ago: Jazz is freedom, so I play music. If I ever play the same thing twice, Ill stop making music. This ensemble never plays the same thing twice, and Tales from the Earth expresses a revelatory message, deeply grounded in tradition, yet thoroughly contemporary and innovative in realization, an expression of human freedom, and a celebration of the Diaspora, alive in our times.

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