Roxana Amed & Frank Carlberg - Los Trabajos y Las Noches (2023) Hi-Res

Argentine vocalist Roxana Amed and New York-based pianist-composer Frank Carlberg first collaborated in 2011. Their first work together yielded La Sombra De Su Sombra (RPR), a 10-part song cycle for voice(s) and piano, with music by Carlberg and poetry by the great Argentine writer Alejandra Pizarnik.

Los Trabajos Y Las Noches (Sony Music Latin) is the follow-up project and this concert serves as an album release event. Also with poetry by Pizarnik, is a 11-part song cycle for quintet and features Adam Kolker (tenor sax and bass and alto clarinet), Simón Willson (upright bass) and Michael Sarin (drums) in addition to Amed and Carlberg. Like its predecessor this project explores themes central to Pizarnik's work; silence, loneliness, love and death. Amed's expressive and deep voice, framed by Carlberg's music, serves as the vessel for Pizarnik's intimate language.

Argentine-American Roxana Amed is a dusky, virtuosic singer, songwriter, and producer whose music blends South American folk traditions with a sophisticated rock and post-bop jazz. Her recent releases Ontology and Unánime are considered by international jazz media among the most important albums in the contemporary vocal jazz and Latin vocal jazz scene. A postgraduate in Spanish literature and film school student, she has earned acclaim for her albums with fellow Argentine multi-instrumentalist and former Pat Metheny band member Pedro Aznar including 2004's Limbo and 2006's Entremundos. More albums followed, in 2010's Cinemateca Finlandesa, a duo album with pianist Adrián Iaies, and Inocencia in 2011, followed by 2013's La Sombra de Su Sombra, with pianist and composer Frank Carlberg featuring the poems of Alejandra Pizarnik. Intantáneas was out in 2019. In 2021 she released her album Ontology with her Miami Quintet and received two Latin Grammy Nominations and won a Gardel Award (Music Award in Argentina) for Best Jazz Album, the first time in 19 years for a singer and a woman leader. Last September she released her new production, Unánime, a personal Latin Jazz approach with the Miami Ensemble and brilliant guests such as Chucho Valdés, Chico Pinheiro, Pedro Aznar, Niño Josele among others. One more time with Frank Carlberg, they release now Los trabajos y las noches, and later next year, with her Miami Quintet, she will release her new music recorded with the CMA Grant "New Jazz Works" received in 2021. Her albums are released by Sony Music Latin. Amed is also an educator at Frost School of Music, University of Miami.

Originally a native of Helsinki, Finland, Frank Carlberg has carved himself quite a niche in the New York jazz community. As a leader, his groups include the Frank Carlberg Quintet (performing settings of a wide variety of texts including poems by poets), the Tivoli Trio (a classic jazz piano trio playing an eclectic mix of Carlberg’s compositions drawn from cinematic and circus inspirations) and the Frank Carlberg Big Band (performing original compositions as well as arrangements and re-compositions of standards and folk materials).

In addition to his own bands, the Brooklyn-based pianist has been involved in many crossover projects throughout the years. Some of his most notable collaborations have included performances and recordings with the likes of saxophonist Steve Lacy, trombonist Bob Brookmeyer and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. He has been commissioned to write music for big bands, small ensembles, symphony orchestras as well as modern dance companies. In addition to his playing and composing activities Carlberg also serves on the faculty at New England Conservatory. He is also a member of the Douglass Street Music Collective and a partner in Red Piano Records, an artist run cooperative label.

La vocalista argentina Roxana Amed y el pianista y compositor residente en Nueva York Frank Carlberg colaboraron por primera vez en 2011. Su primer trabajo juntos resultó en La Sombra De Su Sombra (RPR), un ciclo de canciones de 10 partes para voz(es) y piano, con música de Carlberg y poesía de la gran escritora argentina Alejandra Pizarnik. Los Trabajos Y Las Noches (Sony Music Latin) es la continuación de ese anterior trabajo y este concierto es la presentación de este álbum. También por supuesto con poesía de Pizarnik, es un ciclo de 11 canciones para quinteto y cuenta con Adam Kolker (saxo tenor y bajo y clarinete alto), Simón Willson (contrabajo) y Michael Sarin (batería) además de Amed y Carlberg. Al igual que su predecesor, este proyecto explora temas centrales del trabajo de Pizarnik, silencio, soledad, amor y muerte. La voz profunda y expresiva de Amed, enmarcada por la música de Carlberg, sirve como recipiente para el lenguaje íntimo de Pizarnik.