Candela

Live at STB 139
July 24, 2004

Bruce Huebner—shakuhachi, flute, sax
Robbie Belgrade—sax, percussion
Jonathan Katz—piano, horn
Mark Tourian--bass
Cecil Monroe--drums

Jazz has long since blossomed into a global music. Jazz is everywhere (check out our Planet Jazz section). Whether in Asia, Europe, South America or Africa, excellent jazz musicians play unique variations on jazz in clubs all over the world every night. However, most of these styles of jazz remain in a fairly traditional framework. That, of course, makes interesting music, but one wonders what they would sound like speaking more naturally in a local accent. Perhaps the next step for the jazz as an art will only fully begin when jazz players start to incorporate their own culture’s particular roots to create jazz with an accent.
Candela, a group that makes simple descriptions tough, has already started doing just that. hey played a triumphant concert in support of their newly released CD, “Rise Above,” to a full house at Roppongi’s STB 139.     

Candela’s instrumentation already demands a fresh, distinct musical grammar: shakuhachi, flute, piano, French horn, soprano sax, clarinet bass, a variety of percussion instruments, double bass, and jazz drums. The use of these instruments alone makes Candela's music truly global, but even more, the sounds they make are equally broad and still very earthy. The band has incorporated Asian and Middle Eastern tastes into their compositions for a natural world music.

Knowing where to put the Candela album on the shelf in a traditional CD store, I would choose the jazz corner if I had to, but I would rather create an entirely new corner, call it “Original Jazz” only for these guys. And for those groups that will follow along as jazz continues to become richer through its blends and head towards further global feeling.

More than just being cleverly inventive, though, these guys can play. Their sense of live performance is as strong as their compositions and carefully done recordings. Though they have a profound feeling for Asian and Middle Eastern music, they have not lost their roots in jazz, which they use for interesting improvisations. The ways they kept those rhythms afloat while improvising on complex compositions made for a consistently engaging evening of music.

Already, they have many fans ready to listen to the diverse musical elements they bring together with such comfort and daring. Candela shows the world to the world. (Marco Mancini)