Aruán Ortiz - Hidden Voices: the deepest recesses of the groove

Cuban-born, Brooklyn-based pianist Aruán Ortiz is a musical chameleon. As well as a series of prestigious sideman calls – Esperanza Spalding, Wallace Roney – he has won awards for composition, curated avant garde concert series, written music for films and led or co-led several hard-swinging international groups.

It is surprising therefore to hear in Hidden Voices a very focused, single-minded piano trio recording in the abstract tradition of Paul Bley, Andrew Hill and Jason Moran.

Ortiz is an admirer of Cubism and his deconstruction of rhythm certainly bears comparison with the way Picasso and Braquer rearranged reality.

The experienced rhythm team of bassist Eric Revis and drummer Gerald Cleaver follow Ortiz into the deepest recesses of the groove where strict time evaporates in a blaze of forward momentum. Or something. aruan-ortiz.com