Born in Puerto Rico, graduated from the Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA, with over 28 years of experience of lecturing and performing jazz in USA, Europe and Scandinavia, a dual citizen of Finland and the USA, residing in Helsinki and occasionally in Riga, Latvia, Neff Irizarry is a true cosmopolitan, and I think his world citizenship can be heard entangled in/with his music on his latest album Cambio.
Artistically, he is best known for combining progressive Latin Jazz with Puerto Rican “Sabor” and a Nordic cool perseverance. In his effort to fuse together different traditions he’s said to follow the footsteps of such great jazz guitarists as Jim Hall, Pat Metheny and Steve Khan. Irizarry is known to have performed, among others, with Eddie Henderson, Jimmy Haslip, Lonnie Liston Smith, Victor Mendoza, Brian Melvin and Anders Bergcrantz.
In addition to being a devoted guitarist, Irizarry is also a composer, author and educator specializing in Latin and contemporary jazz. Some of his compositions are included in The European Real Book (Sher Music Co., 2007) along with the works of the most significant European jazz composers. And his books – Contemporary Latin Jazz Guitar Vol. 1 and Vol. 2: Solos (Sher Music Co., 2021 & 2024) – may be the most comprehensive presentation on Latin Jazz Guitar ever written!
CAMBIO
“Cambio” (Change) is Irizarry’s second album. It was released this September (the debut CD “Nepenthe” is from 2000), and is produced by three-time Grammy Award-winning bassist Jimmy Haslip, who also plays on the album. Other musicians are Martin Fabricius (vibraphone), and Ricardo Padilla (percussions). Drawing from Irizarry’s Puerto Rican heritage, the album features the guitar played in an Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz Guitar style, and pays homage to the bond between guitar and vibraphone.
The music on Camio is a fusion of Latin rhythms and eloquent, small scale melodies. Percussions set the rhythm, backed by the lively flexible bass, the guitar and vibraphone softly and subtly communicating with each other, not much of dynamics, no challenging dissonances, only music that is flowing or smoothly rolling on, occasionally more fervently, but mostly relaxingly and determinately. Sometimes referring to known elements from the past traditions, but to an important degree forward looking. I’m sure those more familiar with this music can detect more complex ideas behind Irizarry’s art of guitar playing, and behind his sophisticated interplay with the vibraphone. To me the new album represented an entertaining introduction to Latin American jazz guitar, of which I hardly knew that it existed!
Check this out!
