Intercambio
Featuring percussion legend Michael Spiro, powerhouse bassist David Belove, versatile drummer and percussionist Colin Douglas, and ace pianist Murray Low, the Latin Jazz Quintet brings together some of the most formidable and sought after musicians in the Bay Area (though Wallace and Spiro now spend much of their time in Bloomington, where they’re professors at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music). These musicians are steeped in jazz, popular Cuban music and Afro-Cuban folkloric roots, but as American-born artists with no Caribbean ancestry, they became clave initiates in young adulthood. With no proprietary agenda “we have nothing to prove in that respect,” Wallace says. “It allows us to express our own voices in the music, and gives us a lot of license to explore the melding of the different styles.”
Special Guests
Mary Fettig, Mads Tolling, Jenna Barghouti, Joy Vucekovich, Benjamin Wagner, Graham Cullen, Joe Galvin, Dan Coffman, Brennan Johns, Sean Weber, Edgardo Cambon, Jesus Diaz and John Santos
Available July 7, 2015 on Patois Records.
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Latin Jazz – Jazz Latin
Released June 4, 2013 on Patois Records.
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To Hear From There
Exploring Afro-Cuban folkloric themes, old-school descarga jams, clave-driven Latin jazz, hard-hitting timba, dance-inducing cha cha cha and more, the quintet puts a distinctive Bay Area stamp on an impressive array of rhythms. Incisive, often inspired solos abound, but Wallace designed the album as a forum for creative communion, and the musicians use the freedom to engage in a series of charged encounters.
One of the things I love about the quintet is that there s a constant conversation happening, whether between two or five players, Wallace says. I wanted to really highlight that. The band contains a lot of cumulative experience in a tremendous array of genres and styles. We’ve honed a unique sound, and I wanted to bring that to the forefront in the songs I composed and arranged, while giving plenty of space so people can hear what great musicians they are.
Released January 18, 2011, Patois Records.
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¡Bien Bien!
Released September 15, 2009, Patois Records.
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Infinity
Infinity, Wallace’s fourth production on Patois Records, sparkles with the same signature energy that infuses all his work. Once again, Wallace has put together a fascinating collection of originals, standards, and Latin jazz classics, showing the how these genres interconnect to create a quintessentially American music. Wallace’s virtuosity on the horn really shines on this disc, and his masterful compositions and arrangements give everyone else a chance to cook as well. He and his band mates Murray Low, piano and keyboard; David Belove, bass; Michael Spiro, Latin percussion and percussion arrangements; Paul van Wageningen, Trap drums, are all venerated masters of Latin music and Latin jazz. They’ve collaborated consistently for years, and the cohesion of the ensemble is apparent in every track, from the tightness of the groove on Wallace’s red-hot “Songo Colorado,” to the laid-back spaciousness given to the gorgeous ballad “Memories of You.” Though this is technically a small group setting, the Quintet has an incredible fullness and complexity of sound. Wallace augments the group with a chorus on two tunes, and creates further big-band sonorities on a number of tracks by honoring the great trombone groups of Conjunto Libre, J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding, and Orquesta Revé, most notably on the originals “Songo Colorado” and “TBA”. Amazingly, Wallace is playing all the parts!
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