JORGE SYLVESTER, alto saxophone: Press

In The Ear Of The Beholder

Jorge Sylvester's Afro-Caribbean Experimental Trio

Sylvester's alto work is deeply rooted in bebop but fluent in the most modern of horn vocabularies.
With this album, he makes his mark as one of the more advanced, imaginative voices in Afro-Caribbean jazz.

Jorge Sylvester's Afro-Caribbean Experimental Trio
In The Ear of the Beholder
Jazz Magnet Records CD JAM-2003, 2001 (75:54)


Dan Macintosh, 9 December 2001

Jorge Sylvester practices a musical form of contraction, which is described as the mathematical search for what is essential and true by way of discarding the inessential, according to liner note essayist Ramsey Ameen. But while it's at times tricky, Sylvester's Afro-Caribbean experimentalism is by no means a cold exercise in trigonometry with a beat.

Sonny Rollins is said to be a primary influence on Sylvester, but the ears of this beholder also hear a lot of Ornette Coleman in some of the underlying sadness of his alto playing, and especially in the machine-gunning rhythm tandem of bassist Donald Nicks and drummer Bobby Sanabria in parts of "Tambor - The Mix."

Layered percussion, including cymbals and cow bells, may give a song like "Por La Clave" a traditional Caribbean feel, but modern jazz, contemporary funk and hints of Be Bop are also filtered through Sylvester's musical perspective. The aforementioned "Por La Clave" builds into a full-on battle of wills between Sylvester's mad improvisation and drummer Sanabria's primitive pounding.

Sylvester playfully acts out a cat-and-mouse-like musical game on "Sly Mongoose," which is a Jack Edwards composition most notably recorded by Charlie Parker. But the trio's take on it is anything but the straight bebop variety, as Nicks can be heard plucking his way funk-aly throughout.

The only other non-Sylvester composition is Alberto Barreto's bolero "Corazon Rebelde." Backed by minimal rhythm accompaniment, Sylvester slides his way through its sinuous melody. Here, his tone and musical passion shine brightly.

Much like "Corazon Rebelde," "Songoajira" is one of the few cuts on this album to follow a relatively predictable musical path. It draws its unhurried rhythm pattern from Cuban songo and guajira (hence it's name, a combination of these two styles), yet Sylvester sounds just as inspired as he does on his more experimental flights.

Whether he's pushing the envelope, or maneuvering within its relatively broad confines, Sylvester will find appeal with the ears of various different kinds of beholders.

performers Jorge Sylvester ,alto sax, hand claps, voice, cuica voice effect, maracas and cow bell; Donald Nicks, electric bass guitar and fretless bass guitar on "King's Highway"; Bobby Sanabria, drums and all bells

songs Tambor - The Mix · Sly Mongoose · Corazon Rebelde · Por La Clave · In The Ear of the Beholder - Por La Clave Part II · Songoajira · King's Highway · Tropicando

CD Reviews from the June 2001 issue
JAZZ TIMES MAGAZINE

JORGE SYLVESTER AFRO-CARIBBEAN EXPERIMENTAL TRIO
In the Ear of the Beholder (Jazz Magnet)


There are no cliched romantic notions of breezy island music on this bold adventure led by Panamanian alto saxophonist Jorge Sylvester. With his edgy rhythmic pulse and diamond-hard tone prancing atop drummer Bobby Sanabria's furious polyrhythms and Donald Nicks' molten-hot bass lines, Sylvester has crafted an album that boasts the same sort of Herculean, calypso-driven improvisations of Sonny Rollins and the lofty intentions of Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake's 1970s Arista Freedom dates. Nicks' resonating bass and Sanabria's infectious rhythms buffer Sylvester's propensity for the outer reaches, as demonstrated on the lively calypso "Sly Mangoose" and the rhapsodic ballad "Corazon Rebelde." The trio keeps the passion hot throughout In the Ear of the Beholder, though their hyperactivity can become a bit draining. Still, the majority of the album's dancing rhythms will compel you to keep coming back.

-John Murph

MUSIC REVIEW
IN THE EAR OF THE BEHOLDER
JORGE SYLVESTER ACE TRIO

MUSIC REVIEW ( IN FRENCH )
IN THE EAR OF THE BEHOLDER
JORGE SYLVESTER ACE TRIO

CD REVIEW
IN THE EAR OF THE BEHOLDER
JORGE SYLVESTER ACE TRIO

" CD REVIEW BILLBOARD SPOTLIGH
February, 24 2001 "
PANAMANIAN-BORN ,
NEW YORK-HONED
ALTO SAXOPHONIST JORGE SYLVESTER HAS PRODUCED A SET OF CHALLENGING ISLAND-ACCENTED JAZZ WITH HIS APTLY NAMED * AFRO-CARIBBEAN
EXPERIMENTAL TRIO *
*IN THE EAR OF THE BEHOLDER* BESPEAKS VARIETY IN THE FORM , WITH EACH TRACK OPENING UP A DIFFERENT VISTA .

* MUSICOLLAGE CD REVIEW
February , 12 1996 *
FROM NEW YORK CITY BY WAY OF COLON , PANAMA , WITH STOPOVERS IN MADRID , SPAIN AND WOODSTOCK, NY , COMES JORGE SYLVESTER , AN ALTO SAXOPHONIST
DESTINED FOR GREATNESS .

** MUSICOLLAGE CD REVIEW
February 1997 **

ONE OF THE MOST
CREATIVE, UNCLICHED RECORDINGS
TO COME MY WAY THIS YEAR IS THIS
DARING AND INVENTIVE DEBUT
RECORDING OF PANAMENIAN ALTO SAXOPHONIST JORGE SYLVESTER PERFORMING ALL ORIGINAL MATERIAL .
HE IS ASSISTED IN THE FRONT LINE BY THE WELL- KNOWN BRAZILIAN TRUMPETER CLAUDIO RODITI . ALSO INCLUDED IN THE BAND ARE VIRTUOSO BASSIST SANTI DEBRIANO
VIBRAPHONE PLAYER MONTE CROFT
THE ABSOLUTELY KILLIN ' DRUMS OF
GENE JACKSON, PERCUSSIONIST
BOBBY SANABRIA, AND GUITARIST MARVIN SEWELL. THE MUSIC IS AN
INTRIGUIN BREW OF ODD METERS ,
OSTINATO BASS LINES, BEBOP ,
PERCUSSIVE DISPLAYS AND A REMARKABLY COHERENT GROUP SOUND AND APPROACH .
JORGE SYLVESTER'S PLAYING STYLE IS AS UNIQUE AS HIS APPROACH TO WRITING. HIS MOST APPARENT INFLUENCES ARE ERIC DOLPHY AND
JACKIE McLEAN BUT HIS SOUND IS CLEARLY HIS OWN .
UTILIZING THE VIBES AS THE CHIEF
CHORDAL INSTRUMENT, THE SOUND
IS REMINISCENT OF THE EARLY BLUE NOTE RECORDINGS OF JACKIE McLEAN WITH BOBBY HUTCHERSON AND TONY WILLIAMS, BUT THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES.
THE APPROACH TO THE MUSIC IS FAR MORE VARIED IN IT'S RHYTHMIC CONCEPTS. IT'S NOT FREE MUSIC IN THE SENSE OF ABANDONING CHORDS OR FORMS. INSTED, THE FREDOM COMES FROM WORKING WITHIN THE STRUCTURES FORMED BY LATIN AND WORLD RHYTHMS, VAMPS, CHORDS STRUCTURES AND MODES .
THE MUSIC IS CHALLENGING BUT MOST DEFINITELY ACCESSIBLE VIA THE STRONG RHYTHMIC SETTING THAT OFFERS MUCH CHARACTER TO THE MUSIC. WE WILL HEAR MORE FROM JORGE SYLVESTER .