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Ron Rieder: Dia Precioso!

By Jack Bowers
May 29, 2025
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Dia Precioso! is the second album of exuberant Latin Jazz designed by Massachusetts-based composer

Ron Rieder

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Ron Rieder, gliding in on the heels of his well-received debut recording, Latin Jazz Sessions (2024). As before, Rieder leads a more-or-less octet comprised of topnotch Boston-area musicians; and as before, Rieder's music is for the most part arranged by percussionist

Ricardo Monzon

percussion

" data-original-title="" title="">Ricardo Monzon.

While personnel remains roughly the same as on the earlier album, more brass (trumpeters

Yaure Muniz

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Yaure Muniz or

Greg Hopkins

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Greg Hopkins, trombonist David Harris) has been added to bolster the front line of tenor saxophonist

Mike Tucker

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Tucker, flutist

Fernando Brandao

flute

" data-original-title="" title="">Fernando Brandao and (on two tracks) guitarist

Claudio Ragazzi

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Claudio Ragazzi with Monzon, pianist

Alain Mallet

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Alain Mallet, drummer

Mark Walker

drums
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Walker and bassist

Fernando Huergo

bass, electric

" data-original-title="" title="">Fernando Huergo (replacing

Oscar Stagnaro

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Oscar Stagnaro) in the rhythm section. Cellist

Queralt Giralt

cello

" data-original-title="" title="">Queralt Giralt and bandoneonist Alex Roitman are added on the graceful closing tango, "Volver a Amar."

The music is much the same too, using seductive melodies and strong Latin rhythms to erect a platform that is robust and fun to explore, starting with the breezy "Blue Skies" (Rieder's theme, not the well-known Irving Berlin standard) and continuing apace through seven more of his sunny original compositions, at least one of which, "I Fell Into a Meme," is based on a standard: "You Stepped Out of a Dream."

Tucker is an admirable soloist, while Hopkins, Harris, Mallet and Brandao make the most of their brief moments in the sun. It is the ensemble, however, that produces the more definitive statements, lending vibrancy and warmth to Rieder's handsome charts and Dia Precioso! its singular persona. If there is a downside, it lies in the album's meager thirty-three minute playing time. On the upside, none of that time is wasted. It is enough, however, to lower the over-all rating by one-half star.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Blue Skies; Beautiful Day; I Fell Into a Meme; Dizzy Hechizo; Birthday Song; Danca Festiva; Funday; Volver a Amar.

Personnel

Ron Rieder

piano

David Harris

trombone

Queralt Giralt

cello

Ricardo Monzon

percussion

Fernando Brandao

flute

Greg Hopkins

trumpet

Alex Roitman

bandoneon

Claudio Ragazzi

guitar

Fernando Huergo

bass, electric

Mike Tucker

saxophone, tenor

Mark Walker

drums

Alain Mallet

piano

Yaure Muniz

trumpet

Album information

Title: Dia Precioso! | Year Released: 2025 | Record Label: Self Produced

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