Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - El Arte Del Bolero, Vol. 2 (2023) [Hi-Res]

About The Music

- En La Oscuridad: From the songbook of the great Tito Rodríguez, this song features a unique melody/harmony combo that is always fun to play on. I personally discovered this song while still a very young music student in Puerto Rico, on the album A Dos Tiempos de Un Tiempo, a wonderful Tito Rodríguez tribute by Gilberto Santa Rosa.

- Paula C: A modern classic by the great Rubén Blades, first recorded on the 1978 album Louie Ramírez y sus Amigos. The original is faster and more dance-oriented, so we decided to slow it down and expand on the form a bit. It ended up providing the perfect platform for improvisation and musical conversation.

- En La Soledad: Another beautiful song from the Tito Rodríguez songbook. We play it here entirely out of time, extending the melodic phrases and harmonic flow. After some collective free-improv over various pedal points, we come back to the theme before closing out the piece.

- Motivos: This one was suggested by Luis, a gorgeous melody that he grew up listening to in his native Venezuela. There are many wonderful versions of this song to explore, my personal favorite coming from La Rondalla Venezolana.

- Caballo Viejo: A timeless piece of music which has been covered extensively by various artists spanning a wide range of musical genres. It was written by master songwriter Simón Díaz, perhaps the most widely recognized Venezuelan composer of his time. Towards the tail end of this version we introduce elements from the outro to Keith Jarrett’s take of “Moon and Sand,” a piece we both know and love.

- Mucho Corazón: Written by Eva Elena Valdelamar, the great Mexican songwriter who penned this when she was still a teenager. We used Benny Moré’s version as one of our main sources of inspiration and experimented with the harmonic progression at different points within the form.

- Silencio: An amazing piece of music from the creative mind of Puerto Rican legend Rafael Hernández. We recorded this piece with a larger ensemble on the 2012 album Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook and decided to revisit it here. Our version uses the triplet as its main source of rhythmic information and it’s perhaps the most intricate arrangement of all the songs on this album. This is truly a beautiful piece of music and felt like the perfect way to close out the record.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - En La Oscuridad (6:57)
1.02 - Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - Paula C (8:17)
1.03 - Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - En La Soledad (5:42)
1.04 - Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - Motivos (7:52)
1.05 - Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - Caballo Viejo (8:01)
1.06 - Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - Mucho Corazon (6:36)
1.07 - Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - Silencio (7:41)