Venezuelan violinist Leonor Falcón’s Imaga Mondo: Volume II is her captivating, genre-shifting follow up to her acclaimed 2017 debut, Imaga Mondo, which All About Jazz hailed as “[a]mbitious and idiosyncratic.” As with the latter, whose title translates to “Imaginary World” in Esperanto, the music on Volume II draws inspiration both from the mythological and fabular, using a sonic palette inspired by fantastic creatures and elements as a springboard for musical exploration. Over the course of the album’s eight tracks, Falcón leads her bandmates across diverse musical terrain, including the melodious sprawl of “Para Emilio,” named after her son; the hard-hitting and rock-inflected “Cursing Parrots”; raucous noise journey of “A,” dedicated to the NYC subway line of the same name; the understated songfulness of “Ballad for a Hawk,” inspired by The Maltese Falcon and film noir; and much more.
Falcón, a rising star on the New York scene whose artistry and versatility has earned her recognition across the jazz, classical, Latin, improvised and avant-garde, and new music communities, has performed with the Camila Meza & The Nectar Orchestra, legendary salsa artist Willie Colón, the GRAMMY Award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and many others. Her new album reprises the quartet convened on Imaga Mondo with reedist Christof Knoche, guitarist Juanma Trujillo, and drummer Juan Pablo Carletti, and it adds bassist Zach Swanson to round out the ensemble.
All compositions by Leonor Falcón
Falcon Gumba Records Publishing (ASCAP)
Recorded by Chris Gilroy at Douglass Recording studios
Mixed by Juanma Trujillo
Mastered by Eivind Opsvik at Greenwood Underground
Artwork by Flóres Soláno
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supported by 4 fans who also own “Imaga Mondo Vol. II”
Like eavesdropping on a growing stream of consciousness...some of these riffs and harmonies feel written in the spur of the moment, never to be played the same way twice; what i love most about jazz. M Tran