Artist Interview - Brenda Hopkins Miranda

Brenda Hopkins Miranda

Memoirs from Granada


Photo by: © Alexandra Ayala Cintrón
Artist Interview by: Wilbert Sostre

Brenda Hopkins Miranda is a talented pianist, composer, arranger, improviser, band leader, writer and educator born in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

http://www.myspace.com/brendahopkinsmiranda

Wilbert Sostre - How and when did you start in music?

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - I studied in a school with courses in music, ballet and painting. I started in music when I was 6. Then when I started at the University, I took it more seriously, but music was always something very important in my life.

WS - How and when did you discover Jazz music?

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - I Compare it with literature, first you start reading the basics, child books, etc. Then you get to more deeper and complex stuff. I think that is important also to go through those moments. At one time I played Rock and Pop. And I did learn a lot with those experiences. My Bachelor degree is in Classical music, a music that I love also. But I always knew that I didn't want to be a classical music pianist. For me music always has been a form of expression, and I always wanted to be creative with my music. I think Jazz is one of those spaces where one have the opportunity of creating and express your own voice. That moment of improvisation is magical cause your creating art in that moment, and have to take risks that sometimes works and sometimes it doesn't work.

WS - Who was the first artist that made you fall in love with Jazz?

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - It all started with a Keith Jarrett album, it was a present from a friend. At that moment I wasn't ready for that music. But some time later I fell in love with his music, especially the European Quartet, that was mostly original music, then I discovered his trio playing standards, his improvised music. So he was a good starting point for me to discover a lot of possibilities within Jazz.

WS - And after Keith Jarrett?

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, that is the first album that almost everybody use to introduced you to Jazz music. From there I went back, to Miles earlier music, I bought his autobiography, when I like some music I try to learn what's behind it. John Coltrane also was a big influence. I like musicians that are always changing. Monk also is very important to me.

WS - Nice that you mention Monk because I hear some influence of Monk in your playing.

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - I love his use of space, I learned from Monk that I don't have to play all the time when I'm improvising. And also the use of second minors and dissonance.

WS - There is some dissonance in the intro of one of your compositions on your new album, Memoirs from Granada.

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - Yes. In "Plaza Nueva"

WS - How about your experience in Spain? Because that's the birthplace of your new CD.

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - Playing in a "tablado" with gypsies, it was an incredible experience. I played with David El Marqués, one of the best guitar player in Spain. On some jam sessions there were musicians from Israel, Italy, Africa, Germany, France. Any music that is genuine, honest captures me. And this Cd was a way to thank them, because I know they don't let everybody get into their music space, and at the same time tell my story in Spain to the people of Puerto Rico.

WS - It was your first experience with the music of Spain?

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - Well, the music from Spain is one of the major influences in the music of Puerto Rico. And that is something people do not talk about that much. Everybody talks about the african influence, which is very important too, the richness of the african rhythms is essential to our music. But we can not forget that part of what we are comes from Spain. When I arrived in Spain, I saw the way people talk, walk, everything. And I was amazed about how much alike we are, Especially in the south of Spain. So this CD was also a way to reconnect with that part of our heritage.

WS - I know you have a lot of music influences besides Jazz. Musicians like Ruben Blades, Eddie Palmieri, Ismael Rivera, Bob Marley, Tori Amos, Pablo Milanes, Silvio Rodriguez, etc. What do you think is the common ground in their music?

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - Their music is genuine, comes from the heart. The motivation of a musician can't be to impress, or the money, or fame. Music should be used to show your feelings, what you are. And that's what I think I get from all those musicians. There's also a quality in their music.



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Brenda Hopkins Miranda - Memoirs from Granada

Brenda Hopkins Miranda - Memoirs from Granada

Featured Artist: Brenda Hopkins Miranda



CD Cover - Buy CD CD Title: Memoirs from Granada

Year: 2009

Record Label: Zona Boricua Records

Style: Folk Jazz

Musicians: Brenda Hopkins Miranda (piano, palmas), Samuel Morales (bass), Aldemar Valentin (bass), Hector Matos (drums), Efrain Martinez (drums), Enrique Chavez (percussion, palmas), Carlos Sanchez (trumpet), Jeanne d'Arc S. Casas Panouze (dancing steps)



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Review: Every once in a while one comes across a CD of such quality and beauty that restore your faith in music. Brenda Hopkins Miranda’s Memoirs from Granada is that kind of CD. A music jewel from beginning to end, in Memoirs from Granada, Brenda captivates the listener with an exquisite fusion of Jazz, music from Spain and of course, music from her country, Puerto Rico.
Brenda Hopkins is a wonderful pianist, with extraordinary technique, equally impressive playing either Jazz, Rock, or Classical music. With Memoirs from Granada, Brenda adds to that mix, the musical experiences she had while living in Granada, Spain.

Memoirs of Granada starts with a beautiful piano intro on the first track, Miranda, a composition full of melodies played with passion and intensity. Brenda brilliantly used melodic ostinatos to state a theme and create different moods. Ostinato is a repeated melodic or rhythmic pattern.

The melodies on The Return show the strong Arabic influence in the music from Spain. On her improvisations, Brenda plays masterfully with the melodies, harmonies and rhythms, accompanied once again by the excellent playing of Efrain Martinez on drums and Aldemar Valentin on bass.

Plaza Nueva starts with a fun intro, kind of dissonant. On this piece the music of Spain fuses with Jazz in a perfect musical marriage. Carlos Sanchez is amazing on trumpet with touches of be bop on his phrasing, and Brenda plays some of his best solos on piano. Hector Matos and Samuel Morales play drums and bass on this one.

Carlos Sanchez trumpet steal the show on Mi Sacromonte, with melodies reminiscent of the Cool Jazz era. Carlos powerful solos and high notes are a perfect match for the quiet intensity of Brenda’s music. Brenda always finds a way to capture the senses with magnificent compositions and energetic playing.

In a CD full of musical highlights, Flamenco Borincano is probably the brightest one. The title comes from one of the most famous songs from Puerto Rico, Lamento Borincano, wrote by Rafael Hernandez. Brenda creates a perfect fusion of the Flamenco feeling with the melodies of Lamento Borincano. Flamenco Borincano is already in my opinion, a Puerto Rico Jazz classic. Excellent solo on percussion by Enrique Chavez.

The beautiful, almost heavenly piano melodies on Vimaambi, change into a more rhythmic piece with the flamenco dancer (bailaora). There are some solo piano tracks like Wings of Illusion and Absence for Brenda to showcase his classical influences and technique. And on Chawarma there’s a funky feeling with some Rock influences.

There is an almost nostalgic feeling on the piece Huerto de Juan Rana, with melodies that seems to evoke memories from Spain. El Darro contains music that invites you to close your eyes and let music take you away.

Confeti is the most festive track on this CD, with a fusion of Puerto Rico folk music in the melodies with latin jazz rhythms.


Tracks: Miranda, El Regreso/The Return, Plaza Nueva, Mi Sacromonte, Flamenco Borincano, Vimaambi, Alas de Ilusión/Wings of Illusion, Chawarma, Huerto de Juan Rana, El Darro, Confeti, Ausencia/Absence

Artist's Website: http://www.myspace.com/brendahopkinsmiranda

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Reviewed by: Wilbert Sostre

The Harlem Hellfighters

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, James Reese Europe emerged as the most renowned bandleader of New York's entertainment world. Famed for his syncopated orchestral accompaniment of the dancing team of Irene and Vernon Castle, Europe became a major figure in promoting the popularity of social dancing and engendered a ragtime-based music that contributed to the emergence of jazz. During World War I, his 369th Infantry Band the “Hell Fighters,” was hailed by French and American troops as the finest ensemble in the Allied Army.

The Harlem Hell fighters was a combination of musicians from Harlem and Puerto Rico:

James Reese Europe - Director, Conductor, Arranger Eugene Mikell - Assistant Conductor Felix Weir Assistant Conductor



Dope Andrews, Herb Fleming, Amos Gillard, Rafael Hernandez,Trombones - Arturo B. Ayala, Gregorio Felix Delgado, Rafael Duchesne, Antonio Gonzalez, Jesus Hernandez, Elige Rijos, Genaro Torres, Clarinets - Sixto Benitez, Alex Jackson, Lee Perry, Jose Rivera Rosas,Tubas - Frank DeBroit, Pops Foster, Jake Porter, Russell Smith, Cornets - Pablo Fuentes, Bassoon - Calvin “Piccolo” Jones,Piccolo, Flutes - Ceferino Hernandez, Pinkhead Parker, Saxophones - Froilan Jimenez, Nicholas Vazquez, Baritone Horns - Eleuterio Melendez, Francisco Melendez, Mellophones - Noble Sissle, C. Creighton Thompson, Vocals - Hurbert Wright, Steven Wright, Karl Kenny, and Whitney Viney - Drums

Rogelio "Ram" Ramirez

Biography


Born: September 15, 1913

Ram Ramirez - piano, organ, composer, (1913 - 1994)

Rogelio Ramirez (also known as Roger or “Ram”) was born in San Juan on September 15, 1913. He arrived on Ellis Island in 1920.He was raised in New York, was recognized as a prodigious talent and by 13 was a professional musician, and a member of the American Federation of Musicians.

Ramirez worked with the Louisiana Stompers, The Spirits of Rhythm, and Monette Moore in 1933. The following year, he joined trumpeter Rex Stewart for a set of recordings that are available today on the Columbia and Classic labels. In 1935, he joined Willie Bryant and in 1937, he went to Europe with a group led by Bobby Martin.

A highlight in Ram Ramirez's career carne at the age of 21, in 1934 when he literally substituted for Duke Ellington in a small group led by Rex Stewart, with whom he recorded “Stingaree,” and “Baby Ain'tcha Satisfied.”

Ramirez backed the legendary Ella Fitzgerald in 1940, in the band she took over after the death of Chick Webb, and worked with Frankie Newton and Charlie Barnet in 1942. In 1944, he joined the John Kirby Sextet and this was followed by stints with his own trio.

He proceeded to play in bands led by Frankie Newton and Ike Quebec, appearing with the latter on some early Blue Note Records, Ramirez also recorded under his own name in 1946, leading a trio with guitarist Jimmy Shirley and bassist Al Hall.



In 1944 Billie Holiday recorded Ramirez's composition, “Lover Man,” a song which is still strongly associated with her, and subsequently became a jazz standard. This has been his biggest claim to fame, and his enduring contribution to jazz.

In the late '40s and early '50s he continued to play in and around New York, and in ‘53 began to play organ on more occasions, where he started to make a name for himself in the clubs.

In the '60s he toured Europe with bluesman T-Bone Walker, and the following decade was with the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band. He continued to make appearances with this group into the early '80s.

A blues-orientated pianist and organist that could swing with the best of them Ramirez is perhaps less well known than his skills warrant. He participated in approximately 62 jazz recording sessions between 1934 and 1981.His best solo effort was “Live in Harlem,” from 1960, where he puts on a dazzling display of his skills on the organ. There was a reissue release in 2005 of “I’ll Remember April,” by the Ram Ramirez Trio.

Ram Ramirez died on Jan. 13, 1994.

Ramón Usera

Ramón Usera

One of Puerto Rico's premiere band leaders in the middle 20th century was Ramón "Moncho" Usera. He organized his first bands in New York and subsequently became a bandleader in his native homeland.

Ramón Usera was born in Ponce in 1904. He arrived in New York (via Ellis Island) in 1924. By the time he arrived in the U.S. mainland, Usera was a well-trained musician who played piano, flute, clarinet and saxophone. Usera stayed briefly in New York and by 1925, was enrolled at the Escole Normale de Musique in Paris, France.

Unlike most of his compatriots, Moncho Usera entered the jazz scene in Europe, when he joined Lew Leslie's Blackbirds, an all-black musical in París. In 1928, that band traveled through Europe and also recorded there. In 1929, Usera returned to New York, where he joined the Noble Sissle Orchestra. It is possible that he had been recruited by the older Puerto Rican musician Rafael Duchesne, who was also a band member. Both were in the band when it went to the recoding studios in February and April of 1931.

In 1933, Usera joined the band led by trumpeter Arthur Briggs and returned to Paris, where he performed at the Ambassadeur Club. In 1934, the band traveled to England to perform at the London Jazz Club. That band included the great players Sidney Bechet and Noble Sissle. Usera participated in approximately 10 jazz recording sessions (between 1928 and 1937) as a violinist, clarinetist, and tenor and alto saxophonist.

Usera left the jazz scene to return to the Latin American music scene, where he performed with outstanding bandleaders such as Enrique Madriguera, Desiderio "Desi" Arnaz and Eliseo Grenet. Usera participated in numerous recording sessions and traveled throughout the United States, South America, and Europe. Afterward, he recorded and arranged music for several bands led by Vincent López and Don Maya, among others.

Moncho Usera was a composer of different genres. Among his compositions, we find the tune titled Under the Creole Moon, which he wrote with Sidney Bechet and Noble Sissle. His other compositions include Añoranzas, Boga Boga, Caribbean Fantasy, Ha Ha Ha, Moment that We Fell in Love, Mosquito El, Tal Es la Vida, and There is No Tomorrow, among others.

A number of recordings in which Moncho Usera is featured as a participant or bandleader are available. Most recently, Harlequin Records released a CD titled Ramón Moncho Usera 1941-42.


Discography
Appears On:
Violon Jazz 1927 - 1944 (2xCD) Kansas City Kitty Frémeaux & Associés 1996

L'Histoire Du Jazz Vocal - The Story Of Vocal Jazz: Part 1 (1911 - 1940) (10xCD, Comp) Camp Meeting Day (192... Le Chant Du Monde 2004

Swing De Paris (1922-1951) (2xCD, Comp) Daughter Of The Latin ... Frémeaux & Associés 2004