Aru��n Ortiz

Born: August 22, 1973

Pianist, violist, and composer Aruán Ortiz – born in Santiago de Cuba, and resident of Brooklyn – has been an active figure in the progressive jazz and avant-garde scene in the US for more than 15 years.

Named “one of the most creative and original composers in the world” (Lynn René Bayley, The Art Music Lounge), he has written music for jazz ensembles, orchestras, dance companies, chamber groups, and feature films, incorporating influences from contemporary classical music, Cuban Haitian rhythms, and avant-garde improvisation. Aruán consistently strives to break stylistic musical boundaries.

Abstraction Is Deliverance

By James Brandon Lewis

Label: Intakt Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: Ware; Per 7; Even The Sparrow; Remember Rosalind; Abstraction Is Deliverance; Multicellular Beings; Mr. Crick; Left Alone; Polaris.

Cr��ole Renaissance

By Aru��n Ortiz

Label: Intakt Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: L'Etudiant noir; Seven Aprils in Paris (and A Sophisticated Lady); L��gitime D��fense; From the Distance of my Freedom; Premi��re Miniature (Cr��ole Renaissance); The Great Camouflage; Deuxi��me Miniature (Dancing); We Belong to These Who Say No to Darkness; The Haberdasher; Lo Que Yo Quiero es Chan Chan.

Fujii/Tamura, Earscratcher, Sam Weinberg & Lisa Marie Simmons

by Maurice Hogue
September 8, 2025

Pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura definitely are a power couple in the free jazz realm. Whether they are leading their own bands, playing in each other's groups, or collaborating as a duo, the music they make is amazing. Ki is their latest duet album and their tenth as a duo and surprise, it's an ...

Aru��n Ortiz: Cr��ole Renaissance

by Jack Kenny
August 28, 2025

Cuban Cubism is central to Aru��n Ortiz's musical identity--but in this album, his vision extends far beyond. While the 1930s Negritude movement was a literary endeavor, Ortiz seeks to embody that movement not through words but through music. His compositions channel their spirit with abstraction, tension, and a deep sense of diasporic reflection. Ortiz, ...

New Music From Bailis, Petrillo, Ortiz & More

by Bob Osborne
August 28, 2025

A selection of brand new releases from around the world together with four more great examples from the recent re-issue of the Strata-East catalogue provides for a fascinating two hours of music. Playlist David Bailis “Ordinary Trash" from Running Through My Mind (Create or Destroy) 00:00 Pat Petrillo “Late Night Diner" from Contemporaneous ...

James Brandon Lewis: Ware

by Ludovico Granvassu
August 27, 2025

Here is a track from one of the year's most acclaimed musicians, James Brandon Lewis, who, as of late, doesn't just land in the best-of lists--he takes up multiple slots. From Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt Records) --featuring Lewis' tightly-knit quartet with Aruán Ortiz on piano, Brad Jones on bass and Chad Taylor on drums ...

Dino Saluzzi, Behn Gillece, Ben Clifton, Aru��n Ortiz, Karl Evangelista��s Apura

by Cheryl K.
August 18, 2025

During this week's two-hour program of jazz and improvised music, new music from bandoneonist Dino Saluzzi; vibraphonists Behn Gillece and Mike Freeman; vocalist Dara Starr Tucker; pianists Ben Clifton and Aru��n Ortiz; and guitarist Karl Evangelista's Apura. Playlist Alice Coltrane “Rama Katha" from Kirtan: Turiya Sings (Impulse!) 11:42 Ashley Jackson “Radhye-Shyam" from Take Me ...

Dave Sewelson, Aruan Ortiz, Neil Charles & Rich Brown

by Maurice Hogue
August 11, 2025

Check out the final track and you'll hear why Toronto's Rich Brown is hailed as one of the finest electric bassists on the planet. His new solo album, Nyaeba, is filled with over-the-moon technique and electronic wizardry. English bassist Neil Charles' debut, Dark Days , is fueled by the words of James Baldwin, while guitarist Gregg ...

James Brandon Lewis Quartet At Solar Myth

by Carl Medsker
June 16, 2025

James Brandon Lewis Quartet Solar Myth Philadelphia, PA June 9, 2025 Freshly minted album in hand, the James Brandon Lewis quartet filed down the center aisle of Solar Myth and took the stage before a sold-out, anticipatory audience. Then, they rocked the house, establishing themselves as a top-ranked, forward-looking power quartet. ...