Miguel Zenon & Dan Tepfer - Internal Melodies (2023) Hi Res

Pianist Dan Tepfer earned a bachelor’s degree in astrophysics from the University of Edinburgh, and saxophonist Miguel Zenón turned down a full engineering scholarship from his native Puerto Rico’s Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez, which is to say that the two gentlemen apply advanced mathematical gifts to the art of jazz improvisation. Add technical mastery of their instruments, deep feeling, and a joyful willingness to pursue their inventive musical impulses, and you have two of the foremost improvisers on the planet. Oh, and they compose, too. Internal Melodies, recorded several years ago, features four compositions from Zenón (three never previously recorded), four from Tepfer’s pen, two collaborative compositions, and one each from György Ligeti (the gloriously rendered etude “Fanfares”) and Lennie Tristano (“317 E. 32nd St.”). The opener, “Soundsheets,” begins with a saxophone glossolalia that promises a transporting experience, and the album delivers on that promise. From Tepfer’s baroque-ish title track (he knows his Bach) to the Latin battle between militarism and romance in Zenón’s “La Izquierda Latina Americana” (which is also a sly reference to the left hand of Venezuelan pianist Luis Perdomo), melody and feeling are front and center. Lyrically abstract, often dense but always light-footed, the music beautifully communicates the rhythmically adept duo’s commitment to clarity of feeling and their superlative musicality.