Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Diego Urcola Quartet: Appreciation

Diego Urcola Quartet: Appreciation

By Charles Walker
March 1, 2011
View read count

Subtlety seldom brings rewards in the life of a journeyman jazz musician. In a field overcrowded with competent colleagues, plagued by spotty media coverage and half-starved by the problems facing the music industry more generally, a gimmick is often required to garner even scant attention. Argentinian-born, New York-based trumpeter

Diego Urcola

trumpet
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Diego Urcola—a long-time member of

Paquito D'Rivera

clarinet
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Paquito D'Rivera's quintet and a stalwart of the late-night NYC scene—avoids the gimmicks on Appreciation, his fourth outing as a leader. Instead, he pushes his Sisyphean rock of charming compositions, strong solos and Latin-tinged groove up the hill of notoriety. And, though the results may not win him the cover of Time any day soon, he sticks to the basics on a set that impresses without imposing.

The conceit, of course, is that each of the tunes is nominally offered to one (or more) of Urcola's musical heroes. There are a few stylistic hat-tippings throughout: the opening of the

Freddie Hubbard

trumpet
1938 - 2008

" data-original-title="" title="">Freddie Hubbard-inspired "The Natural" borrows a fanfare from "Red Clay" before launching into a sprightly neo-bop burner, and he navigates a Harmon-muted middle register for the length of the

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis tribute, "Deep." With or without the track titles, one listen to the album is all it takes to understand Urcola's debt to Hubbard or

Woody Shaw

trumpet
1944 - 1989

" data-original-title="" title="">Woody Shaw, or to pick up on pianist

Luis Perdomo

piano
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Luis Perdomo's amalgam of

McCoy Tyner

piano
1938 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">McCoy Tyner's racing right-hand runs and

Horace Silver

piano
1928 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Horace Silver's chunky left-hand interruptions. The real tribute here is to jazz music itself, in its capacity to absorb a variety of influences and yet produce a quick hour of consistently strong music.

It is a bit difficult to strongly recommend one track over another, as the sheer competence of the group's playing settles them into a sort of complacent middle ground in some stretches. "Super Mario Forever" gets the blood flowing, however, and Urcola's solo is a good example of the strength of his playing, and thus why this album is so pleasing at its best. Even at the track's elevated tempo, his articulation is precise, his melodic ideas are logical and evolve naturally, and he develops a scintillating, two-way conversation with drummer

Eric McPherson

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric McPherson before the hand-off and subsequent traded bars. The album closer "Camila," nodding obliquely at Coltrane's "Naima," makes a case for his versatility. McPherson's rumbling mallets and bassist

Hans Glawischnig

bass
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Hans Glawischnig's steady, syncopated pulse give Urcola (muted once again) enough room to lyrically caress the melody, developing it into a tense, moody space at which the opening theme barely hints.

Though Urcola has been nominated for three separate Grammys for his work elsewhere, a set of straightforward, well-played tunes is unlikely to attract similar recognition. Hopefully the trumpeter has found a comfortable enough space professionally that he no longer worries about such accolades, so that he will continue to write such attractive compositions, refine his already-impressive playing and gather his talented friends to play them with such ��lan.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

The Natural (to Freddie Hubbard); El Brujo (to Hermeto Pascoal); Milonga para Paquito (to Paquito D'Rivera); Super Mario Forever (to Mario Rivera); Guachos (to Guillermo Klein & Los Guachos); Deep (to Astor Piazzolla & Miles Davis); Senhor Wayne; Woody 'n Diz (to Woody Shaw & Dizzy Gillespie); Camilla (to John Coltrane).

Personnel

Diego Urcola

trumpet

Diego Urcola: trumpet, flugelhorn, valve trombone, vocals; Luis Perdomo: piano, Fender Rhodes; Hans Glawischnig: bass; Eric McPherson: drums; Yosvany Terry: chekere (1, 8).

Album information

Title: Appreciation | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: CAM Jazz

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Quiet Tiger
< Previous

Quiet Tiger
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.