A carnival of music, joy and danceable tunes with host Toni Basanta. www.cubanbridge.wordpress.com Featuring Beatriz Marquez, Always in My Heart.
The first moments of singer, songwriter and pianist Beatríz Márquez in the 1960s, drew me into her scene. I have known her for well, over 5 decades now, and I feel proud and fortunate to have been not only a contributor, but also a witness to her remarkable development as a composer and as a human being. In 2012, she swept us to a new lush soundscape with the release of Simply Beatríz, with musical direction by saxophonist Alfred Thompson.
In Simply Beatríz, her voice is full, rich, wide, and pure top to bottom, fluid and shapely as anything imaginable, imparting true faith into lyrics valuing a lifetime's experience, appreciation, longing and hope, celebrating 43 years in the making. Bringing back anthological songs that she began listening to from the cradle, inspired by the art of her father René Márquez,
is something prophetic!.
Mr. Márquez is remembered with Qué ganas tengo de verte ! (I am so anxious to see you again!). The Feeling Movement is represented by classic songs penned by José Antonio Méndez, Marta Valdés, Cesar Portillo de la Luz, Rolando Vergara, and Ñico Rojas, La Nueva Trova by Mike Porcel and Amaury Pérez.
Sopot International Song Contest in Poland, gave Beatríz her First Award with a song written by classmate and childhood friend Rembert Egües, while the music of piano master composer Ernesto Lecuona, gives name to the Documentary "Están En Mi Corazón", - They Are All Always in My Heart".
A sophisticated song Mutis, penned by Marta Valdés was orchestrated by Orlando Vistel, who contributed the repertoire with Love Divine. Simply Beatríz, in our TV version, is almost an hour of modern day Cuban Art that encompasses varied but centered emotional territory.
Brasil, the amazonic giant, is represented by the music of pianist Iván Lins, a very popular composer from Río de Janeiro, who began to be noticed in our Island in 1979, through the sitcom Malu Muhler, with leading roles by Regina Duarte (Malu), and a soundtrack which included "Começar de Novo" (Starting Over)", opening the story line. Billete (Bilhete) is their selection.
Simply Beatríz is a labor of love, and as Beatríz and Thompson worked so compellingly, we also decided to include in our presentation and final liner notes, the release of the album My Duets (Mis Duetos, Unicornio 2016), an idea of reedman producer Juan Manuel Ceruto, spreading Beatríz's comfort zone with Silvio Rodríguez, Juan Formell, Pablo Milanés, Vicente Rojas, Leoni Torres, and 7 more, as composers and partners.
Honor To Whom Honor Deserves : Another earmarks of great charts, Libre de Pecado (Free of Sin), a revival of the legacy of the soft spoken pianist Adolfo Guzmán, arranged by Jorge Aragón Jr, sparkles, and closes with a dazzling Danzón composed by Alfred Thompson with his Caribbean Ensemble, which means 4 for the Space of One in One Full-Length Transmission !.
This new episode is a celebratory testament of our music pleasures, a most worthy inclusion of Cuban popular music styles that are long-established, remain evergreen and open to such an original artist's stamp. In the last 8 years, Beatríz has set 3 benchmark albums from the start, where one smash track follows another.
Like all fine vocalists, Beatríz Márquez is instinctively an actress, an idol, a mystery of God, who has been recognized by her peers, and in recent days, by The Modern Cuban Jazz Generation, who invite her to sing in their presentations. Enjoy wistful Songs full of fresh and nicely structured, tones where expertise increases !
