Featuring Grégoire Maret with Luques Curtis & Ruy Adrian López-Nussa
Harold López-Nussa is rapidly building a global following in jazz and beyond. His tight-knit quartet captivates audiences with a relentless vivaciousness that “bridges generations and genres” (Billboard). His music reflects the full range and richness of Cuban music, with its distinctive combination of classical, folkloric and popular elements, as well as its embrace of improvisation. López-Nussa has performed at esteemed venues The Kennedy Center and SFJAZZ Center, as well as some of the best jazz festivals in the world: Newport, North Sea, Monterey, Montréal, Detroit and Playboy.
PERFORMER BIO:
Cuban-born pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa begins an exciting new chapter of his fascinating career with his Blue Note debut Timba a la Americana, a vibrant album teeming with joy and pathos that was inspired by the pianist’s recent decision to leave his Cuban homeland and begin a new life in France. Produced by Snarky Puppy bandleader Michael League, Timba a la Americana unveils a brand- new sound across 10 dynamic original compositions performed by a tight-knit band featuring Luques Curtis on bass, Bárbaro “Machito” Crespo on congas, Harold’s brother Ruy Adrián López-Nussa on drums, and Grégoire Maret, a Grammy-winning harmonica master who has previously played alongside Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, and Prince; Latin jazz bass great Luques Curtis who has shared the stage with legends like Gary Burton and Eddie Palmieri; and drummer/brother Ruy Adrian López-Nussa.
Walk the streets of Havana on any day and you’ll hear the soul of Cuba: music pouring from private homes and bustling restaurants, windows rattling with the parties thrown inside, nightclubs pulsing with throngs of people dancing. On his vibrant and spirited third recording for Mack Avenue Records, pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa sets out to capture that stirring sensation with an exhilarating marriage of jazz and Cuban pop music, defiantly standing up to the doubters who failed to share his radical vision.
The pianist has released a string of acclaimed Latin jazz projects under his own name and participated in collaborative all-star assemblages like Ninety Miles with Stefon Harris, David Sanchez, and Christian Scott. Still, he felt a strong urge to escape the conventional thinking about song form and structure that’s defined Latin jazz since the 1950s. The ideas on his phone – lyrical melodies, intricate odd-meter vamps – suggested new freedoms, unconventional forms. He wrestled with the challenging shapes of the fragments until they became songs.
The combustible blend of Afro-Cuban and modern jazz that has marked all of the pianist’s acclaimed releases is enlivened by the sounds that thrill modern Cuban audiences: the Songo of the iconic band Los Van Van, the Mozambique of Pello el Afrokan, the reggaeton that has swept Latin America and the world since the late 90s. The results pulse with the lifeblood that runs through the streets of Havana.
BAND MEMBERS:
Harold López-Nussa – Piano
Grégoire Maret – Harmonica
Luques Curtis – Bass
Ruy Adrian López-Nussa – Drums
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