Saxophonist, composer, and bandleader FELIPE SALLES explores the immigrant experience in jazz with his stellar Interconnections Ensemble big band.
HOME IS HERE features vibrant compositions inspired by and featuring Melissa Aldana, Paquito D’Rivera, Magos Herrera, Chico Pinheiro, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Sofia Rei, Yosvany Terry, and Nadje Noordhuis.
“Felipe Salles has truly blended the best of several worlds in his music.”– Frank Bongiorno, The Saxophone Journal.
“The nineteen-piece Interconnections Ensemble… has no trouble navigating [Salles’] often intricate scores, whose essence ranges from Baroque to modern classical motifs, and from jazz to Brazilian folk music.” – Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
“Salles’ music is as exciting and adventurous as it is thought-provoking. Bravo to Salles for demonstrating through music, “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we erect.” – Tomás Peña, Jazzdelapena.com
Since founding the Interconnections Ensemble in 2016, saxophonist/bandleader Felipe Salles has used the group as a showcase for his powerful big band compositions and as a vehicle for illuminating diverse perspectives on the immigrant experience. The ensemble’s 2018 debut, The Lullaby Project, reflected his personal journey through the lullabies of his native Brazil, while its 2020 follow-up, The New Immigrant Experience, channeled anger and frustration over the tempestuous political climate into a tribute to “Dreamers” – the hundreds of thousands of people protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
With Home Is Here, his third album with the Interconnections Ensemble, Salles draws inspiration from his fellow immigrants in the jazz community. Out May 12, 2023, via Tapestry Records, the album features eight majestic new compositions, each written for and directly inspired by an individual soloist.
Salles chose a diverse and compelling cast of special guests for the recording, spanning an array of nationalities, cultures, traditions, generations, and most importantly, stories: legendary saxophonist/ clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera (Cuba); vocalist Sofia Rei (Argentina); saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart(Guadeloupe); flugelhornist Nadje Noordhuis (Australia); vocalist Magos Herrera (Mexico); saxophonist/percussionist Yosvany Terry (Cuba); guitarist Chico Pinheiro (Brazil); and saxophonistMelissa Aldana (Chile).
To tailor his new pieces for the featured artists, Salles began by selecting a cross-section of the jazz scene whose work he admires and connects with and whose stories intrigued him for their parallels and differences from his own. He then arranged Zoom interview sessions (availability wasn’t much of an issue during the height of the pandemic) and spoke to each of his subjects at length. Finally, he drew from those conversations to craft a composition embodying each individual’s journey.
“There’s a bit of an anthropological curiosity underneath this whole project,” Salles says. “The conversations were fascinating and helped me find ways to write music that felt connected with people’s personalities and stories.” For instance, the “Re-Invention” opener is a play on words drawn from Rivera’s comment about musicians constantly having to reinvent themselves. Salles ran with that idea while contemplating the breadth of the woodwind master’s storied career; he referenced Rivera’s classical technique by bookending the piece with segments hinting at a Bach invention and steering through sections inspired by tango, Brazilian chorinho, and Afro-Cuban traditions.
Rei penned the lyrics to “Meridian 63,” which Salles wrote with the singer’s experiences in jazz, classical, pop, and folk music in mind. The complex piece utilizes Argentinean influences and a hybrid groove leading into a stunning vocalese in dialogue with the deft band members. Schwarz-Bart used the word “Polymorphous” to describe his approach to fusing his roots and influences, sparking a polyrhythmic piece that diverges into multiple directions.
Having worked extensively with Noordhuis in various contexts, Salles imagined “Wanderlust” as a showcase for her vibrant lyricism and a showcase for a gifted artist who has also been a tireless advocate for women in jazz. The sensual “Two Worlds Together” is richly orchestrated around the timbre of Herrera’s voice, a portrait, Salles says, of “a cultural personality, someone who is very much Mexican and also very much a New Yorker.” Deeply rooted in Afro-Cuban rhythms, “World Citizen” spotlights Terry’s heritage and modern jazz sound. At the same time, “Storytelling” builds on Aldana’s narrative sense and dauntless virtuosity. Pinheiro, a childhood friend of Salles from Brazil, summed up the difference between jazz and Brazilian music, saying the former is about the desire for power (bandleading, soloing, technique) while the latter focuses on “The Promise of Happiness.” The old friends are reunited through Salles’ only solo on the album, a tender, lithe soprano turn.
Salles fulfills that promise throughout Home Is Here, creating a breathtaking suite of music highlighted by remarkable playing and vivid emotion. As represented by the cover image of a snail carrying its shell on its back, the life of a musician is inherently nomadic. Perhaps, Salles muses, that makes them particularly amenable to adopting and integrating into new homes. “As musicians, we make our home wherever we can do our thing the way we want to,” he says. “So I wanted to explore what ‘home’ means and how that affects our music. And at the same time, how does the music affect our perspectives? I wanted to think about how the elements of modern jazz come from immigrant perspectives and contributions.”
FELIPE SALLES
