“Beyond category.” That simple wording is how pianist Danilo Perez’s new album Crisalida is described in a press release announcing the album’s release over the weekend. Released March 18 through Mack Avenue Music Group, the eight-song record truly is a presentation that defies category, as is shown through its featured arrangements. That blurring of musical and cultural lines in the record’s arrangements is at the center of the album’s appeal. It will be discussed shortly. The record’s production works with the arrangements to enhance the album’s listening experience even more. It will be examined a little later. The content’s sequencing rounds out the album’s most important elements and puts the finishing touch to the presentation herein. It will also be discussed later. Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of the album’s presentation. All things considered, they make Crisalida easily one of the best new albums of the year so far.
Crisalida, the new album from Grammy award-winning pianist Danilo Perez, is one of the most surprisingly unique, engaging and entertaining albums that has seen the light of day so far this year. The album’s appeal comes primarily through the album’s featured musical arrangements. The arrangements are of note because as stated already, they truly do defy category. The instrumentation exhibited throughout the album is largely Middle Eastern in nature. Though late in the album in ‘Al-Musafir Blues,’ Perez and his fellow musicians (known as The Global Messengers), actually insert a touch of samba style approach and sound, changing things up slightly to keep things interesting. At other points, Perez and company incorporate a clear free jazz approach to the arrangements, blending that into the largely Middle Eastern style compositions to make for even more originality. There are also more gentle moments of jazz in the occasional vocal performances from vocalists Farayi Malek and Layth Sidiq. As if all of this is not enough, there are also other instrumentations throughout the record, what with the string arrangements, that lean in the directions of both World music and even modern classical. The ability of Perez and company to bring all of these genres together, and balance them so well from start to end makes for such a powerful impact. It makes the arrangements such that they will appeal to an extremely wide range of audiences. That means that the album’s arrangements make for a solid foundation for the album.
Resting on the foundation formed by the album’s arrangements is their production. As noted, there is a lot going on in some of the arrangements and a lot even in what little is presented in others. The painstaking attention paid to each arrangement by those behind the glass paid off. Each instrument and performer expertly compliments his and her counterparts from start to end. The strings and the Middle Eastern Percussion pair so well while the piano line, sometimes gentle and at other times so percussive finds the right moments to accent each arrangement. The vocals, sometimes in English and at other times in Spanish, compliment the instruments just as well. The whole comes across to create a wonderful general effect throughout the album, thus showing the importance of the album’s production. Together with the arrangements, the two elements ensure listeners’ engagement and entertainment that much more. Even with that in mind, there is still one more item to note that makes the album so surprisingly successful. That item is the sequencing of the record’s content.
The sequencing of Perez and company’s new album is important because it takes into account, the noted production and overall content in each song. From start to end, the energy in each arrangement rises and falls just enough both within themselves and from one to the next. From the uptempo opener, ‘Rise From Love’ to the more subdued yet strong energy of its follow-up, ‘Monopathia,’ to the light swing of ‘Al-Musafir Blues’ and its East Meets West approach, to the album’s finale, ‘Unknown Destination’ and the control in its mid-tempo arrangement, Perez and company change things up just enough in the songs’ energies to keep things completely engaging and entertaining in this aspect. When this element is considered along with the album’s content and its production, the whole makes Crisalis a uniquely engaging and entertaining presentation that audiences of so many tastes will enjoy.
Crisalis, the new album from Danilo Perez and his fellow musicians, The Global Messengers, is one of the biggest musical surprises of the year so far if not the single biggest surprise of the year so far. That is due in no small part to its featured musical arrangements. The arrangements bring together East and West in so many genres to make for eight presentations that are in themselves so unique in the best way possible. The production of those arrangements and their sequencing work with the arrangements to enhance the listening experience even more. That is because they balance the arrangements’ general effect and energies. Each item examined is important in its own way to the whole of Crisalis. All things considered, they make the album one of the best new overall albums of the year so far.
Crisalis is available through Mack Avenue Music Group. More information on Perez’s new album is available along with all of his latest news at:
Website: https://daniloperez.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaniloPerezMusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/daniloperezjazz
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