 Darwin Noguera & Victor Garcia |
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Story and photo by Brad Walseth These two young men share a dream: Jazz artists Darwin Noguera and Victor Garcia foresee a day when Chicago will be home to a world class professional Latin Jazz ensemble befitting the abundance of musical talent that inhabits their adopted home city. But Darwin and Victor aren't just dreamers, they are hard at work to make their dream a reality; and Wednesday November 8th at HotHouse, an important step forward will be taken when Noguera and Garcia's "Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble" take the stage at 8pm to make their debut appearance.Now in its third year, the "Jazz en Clave Latin Jazz Festival" at HotHouse features an exciting line up: Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana; Bobby Matos & the NY Latin Jazz Allstars; the CubaRican Charanga All Stars - featuring Sonny Bravo, Mario Rivera, Alfredo de la Fe, Ruben Rodriguez, Johnny Rodriguez, and Jimmy Sabater; Chuchito Valdes; and the Dafnis Prieto Quartet (a complete schedule of show times can be found at the HotHouse website). Noguera and Garcia's ensemble opens the festival Wednesday night, and is made up of some of the finest musicians in Chicago. I recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the two co-founders and find out a bit about their backgrounds and what they have hopes for with this new group. Noguera was born in Nicaragua and moved to Miami when he was five. The pianist says his family wasn't musical, but that he developed his interest in music when he was young. "I started playing piano when I was 10," he says, "I saw the pianist in church and I was so intrigued by how he made music from those black and white keys. I saw colors, but I wondered why the keys were black and white." He moved to Chicago five years ago to go to school at DePaul, and besides working with Victor Garcia and other top jazz musicians on various projects, he also plays gospel piano at his church, Calvary in Naperville. His influences include: Chucho Valdes, Chick Corea, Danilo Perez, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Musical Director/trumpet player Garcia, on the other hand, came from Mexico and was raised in an extremely musical family. "My parents actually met in the church choir," he explains. "My mom always played guitar right on her tummy when she was pregnant with me. My dad was an acupuncturist and he would play tapes in his office. He had a good ear for music. He would put on Dave Brubeck's "Time Out," and I remember sitting there in his office quietly in a chair listening to it and absorbing it. To this day I can still sing all of the solos from "Time Out." It's a great album and Paul Desmond swings his butt off. My dad also played guitar and sang when he was in Mexico - trio music, bolero music - real romantic stuff. That's kind of how he won my mom. He tried to pass it to me." "We met at a rehearsal for a salsa band in a basement on Cicero and Belmont," Noguera remembers laughing, "and it was funny because I had this little Casio keyboard - it wasn't even mine - I didn't even own a keyboard. I was 19, I had just graduated from high school and they had to borrow this keyboard and put it on top of some boxes and mike it, and that's where we first met." From a basement jam session, the pair moved on to bigger and better things. So what is this new plan they have envisioned? Garcia elaborates: "We've been playing with a lot of Latin salsa and jazz groups so we have the style - we love the style. But every group we have played with, it just seems like the leader doesn't have the mindset to just BAM! Think big, break through the barrier. Life does come into play - children(I have a new son of my own), jobs and stuff, I understand, but the mindset is "music is fun and I'm doing it on the side" and that's okay, I totally respect that, but me not being the leader there's not much I can do about that, and I'm over here on the side with all this pent up energy and I just want to play and like kill people with my violence (laughs). And one thing I have learned is that if you want to grow, you have to surround yourself with people with the same mindset, and I've been very lucky to find my best friend - Darwin. We play together and inspire each other." "Our idea is that we have a youth group (Dos Claves Orquestra), we have a semi-professional band at Columbia College, but Chicago doesn't have an Afro-Latin jazz orchestra like Lincoln Center, the Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra, or the Paquito d'Rivera Pan-American Ensemble. We have jazz, but not Latin Jazz. A professional Latin big band. Chicago needs it for the people." But it will take more than these two young men to make this dream come true. "We've made contact with Columbia College and the Jazz Institute, but it's going to take a little time," Garcia continues. "Our ultimate goal is to have Jon Faddis Artistic Director with the Jazz Ensemble and the Latin side - us. Just like Arturo O'Farrill at Lincoln Center and Wynton Marsalis - something of that nature. If it's not going to be a college or Jazz Institute, we want to shoot for Symphony Center. We are thinking something serious." It has been a learning experience for the pair. "Just a few years ago, we tried this concept. We were younger, we had a lot of energy, and we wanted to basically prove ourselves. The older guys would look at you and say "ah, you will learn." Every note you played had to be golden. You wanted to play as fast as you can with youthful exuberance. We are learning with experience that you don't have to play so many notes to impress someone, just say something. You have to speak to the soul, the heart. If somebody who doesn’t know anything about music is walking out humming your solo, you did it. That's what I learned from players like Stan Getz - so melodic. I love melody. That's what people sing and that's what people remember. Nowadays it seems like everyone wants to play as fast as they can - the intervals are way out there... I like that too. There is a beauty in that, and you must advance your knowledge of intervals and such, but you want to make sure the people get medicine off it. This is medicine music. My father the doctor always told me "there is either poison or medicine in anything." As for their band? "These guys are all monsters: Victor (Miranda) and Ernie (Adams) were Al DiMeola's rhythm section for 3 years so they have great chemistry; we have Alfredo Rodriguez and Tito Carrillo on trumpet - you know exactly what he is; Freddie Rodriguez - who plays with a lot of Latin bands here; Willie Garcia who played with the Pan American Orchestra on tenor sax and flute; Steve Eisen (laughs and shakes his head while repeating) Steve Eisen on baritone sax; Greg Ward - another young gun - on alto; John Mose and Craig Sunken on trombones - those guys are amazing - we had them playing 16th note runs the other night and they were right on it; and Danny Feliciano on congas." Noguera explains how the gig came about: "One day David Chavez (Program Director at HotHouse) called me and we talked about who they should bring in. He said they needed a Chicago band that could really kick it off. And I'm like, 'I'll put a band together.' With the concept we had two years prior, we already had the material, and we definitely had the manpower." Hard at work on updating the previously composed material, Noguera expresses his love of composition: "My other instrument is my pen. We've been getting together and finding the most beautiful ways to create melody in a big band." "It's been a great experience" adds Garcia, "because we took what we had and made it ours. We rewrote everything." Garcia credits mentors like Art Davis, Ron Bridgewater and Tito Carrillo for steering him in the right direction over the last few years, while Noguera has experienced personal growth in his studies with Larry Novak. Also thanks go to: "Marshall Vente, Victor Parra, and HotHouse for giving us the opportunity to launch the band publicly. We are really excited for this event and for what this might mean for us in the near future." We here at JazzChicago.net are too! |
Read the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble Official Statement
Watch for Darwin Noguera's fantastic CD - "Timeline" Contact Brad Walseth and JazzChicago.net at bwalseth60@aol.com
- available soon!