Miguel Zenon & The Rhythm Collective - Oye!!! (2013)

Puerto Rican pride oozes from every album under alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón's name. Most recently, he explored plena music in a jazz context on the winning Esta Plena (Marsalis Music, 2009), and put a new spin on songs from the Puerto Rican Songbook with Alma Adentro (Marsalis Music, 2011). While those projects differ greatly, with rough-and-tumble antics on the former and an air of refinement on the latter, they're both built on sturdy conceptual platforms that are supported by Puerto Rican pillars. Oye!!! Live In Puerto Rico is another date that points toward Zenón's place of origin, but it stands apart from the rest because of its dressed-down nature. Zenón doesn't try to take on the mantle of musicologist/aural mixologist; he simply plays, though his playing is never simple.
Zenón and the Rhythm Collective first came together for a U.S. State Department tour of West Africa in 2003, and all of the music that appears on this album was conceived during—or inspired by—that experience. The edgy and the artful come together in covers and originals that don't lack for rhythmic vivacity, yet don't feel hemmed in by the grooves. The music often gives off a loose-and-open-ended feeling, but it also sizzles with percussive heat. Drummer Tony Escapa and percussionist Reynaldo de Jesus burn with the fire of a thousand suns at times, but balance their frenetic energy with a more spacious outlook. Zenón and electric bassist Aldemar Valentin share in their ability to blur lines, delivering melodic rhythms and rhythmic melodies throughout.