Juan Vinuesa - Standard Deeds (2020)

In the passage of the clubs to the academies, jazz has left a few hairs in the cat, but it has also won a few things along the way, such as the certain recognition it has today as a cultural expression. Fortunately there are those who do not lose sight of the importance of immediacy in jazz, something that sometimes the imitation of forms tries to tame. Juan Vinuesa is a good example of this with this recording, Standard Deeds, which you have in your hands. Overcoming the temptation to pigeonhole in a style, Juan and his companions review a handful of classics from great eras from different eras (Coleman, Gillespie, Coltrane, Ellington, Mingus, Monk and even our Pedro Iturralde). This apparent variety is unified with the immediacy that music breathes, with the freedom transmitted by musicians. Both are two elements of jazz that sometimes (most) are lost in academic standardization, and that today can be translated into that term so manic, but accurate and precise that is authenticity.