Odd Wisdom Diego Pinera

• 1 Clave Tune 08:38
• 2 Domingo 06:14
• 3 Conversation with Myself 05:09
• 4 Robotic Night 04:12
• 5 Mi Cosmos 05:03
• 6 Space 07:18
• 7 Away 04:50
• 8 De Madrugada 05:04
• 9 Easter in Puglia 03:18
• 10 Blue Monk 07:16
• Total Runtime 57:02

Info for Odd Wisdom

On his album „Odd Wisdom“, drummer Diego Piñera, together with a stellar cast of musicians, united the groove and vibe ot three different worlds: The percussive variety of his Latin-American origin, the urge for constant renewal of his current home Berlin and the energy of the metropolis New York City where the music was recorded. And with saxophonist Donny McCaslin, guitarist Ben Monder and bassist Scott Colley, three representatives of the top of current US-American jazz join Piñera and form an absorbing exchance of extraordinary enegry, sound, complexity and suspense.

Diego Pinera is a unique figure who is genuinely taking music in new directions by juxtaposing the polyrhythmic freedom of jazz with other metric systems. As he says, “I studied music in the places where it came from.” He started playing drums as a four-year old in Montevideo. His student years were spent in Havana, Boston (Berklee) and Leipzig.

Based in Berlin since 2003, he has continued to widen his musical horizons, immersing himself in the ‘odd’ meters of the title through extensive work with Berlin-based musicians from Greece and Bulgaria.

‘Wisdom’ here refers not just to Pinera’s accretion of wide knowledge and consummate skill, but also to mystery and alchemy: the track “Conversations With Myself” is a hushed, concentrated masterpiece. His ear for fresh colours and timbres is astonishing.

His ACT debut “Despertando” was described as a “treat for the ear,” and “Odd Wisdom” is a kaleidoscope of sonic inventiveness. “Mi Cosmos”, for example, has the rasping sound of a snare over the drum-head. “Robotic Night” features a drum synth pad, played live in the studio.

“Odd Wisdom” is a significant and personal album. “It brings together all of the sounds and rhythms that I have been working on for the past decade.” Pinera gathered a dream team from the New York top flight together for just one day at the Trading 8s studio in New Jersey: Donny McCaslin, Ben Monder and Scott Colley have already made their mark in countless other contexts, and they are on spellbinding form here.

And yet “Odd Wisdom” also has a wonderful ‘lightness’ about it (it is one of Pinera’s favourite words). In these truly capable hands, complex music has a magical fluidity, freedom and flow. Pinera has acquired his wisdom by being watchful. As his evocative lyric for “Space” expresses it: “Al mirar arriba, más allá, en el sol.” (I understood by looking up, beyond, into the sun.)

Diego Pinera, drums
Donny McCaslin, saxophone
Ben Monder, guitar
Scott Colley, bass

Diego Pinera
The drummer Diego Pinera grew up in Montevideo (Uruguay) and has now been living in Germany for several years. He studied drumming at the Berklee College of Music (USA), at the University of Music in Havana (Cuba) and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig. He received lessons from Danilo Perez, Bob Moses, Jose Luis Quintana ‘Changuito’, and Kenwood Denard.

Back in Uruguay he founded the Diego Pinera Trio and recorded the CD Buscando with the Perro Andaluz label. He eventually returned to Germany, where he founded the Berlin Quartett and recorded Reflexiones feat. Tony Lakatos. In 2014 the Jazz Thing Next Generation Series Strange Ways followed. Pinera recorded his current album My Picture with Mark Turner and Ben Street in 2015 in New York. In May 2016 he played the cd.real.tour with Donny McCaslin and Phil Donkin. As ‘Sideman’ he played with musicians such as Donny McCaslin, Jerry Bergonzi, Danilo Perez, Hans Glawischnig, Dan Tepfer, Alex Sipiagin, Miguel Zenon, Wilson de Oliveira, Tony Lakatos, Nene Vazquez, Joe Gallardo, Katja Riemann, Nils Wogram and Paul Brody.

With his quartet (with Peter Ehwald, Tino Derado and Phil Donkin) he achieved in his compositions a new, unusual approach to Latin Jazz. Sometimes this approaches Pop and Modern Jazz, sometimes he concentrates on the original, multilayered rhythms of this improvisational music. Pinera’s playing is nonetheless always grounded in the Latin American musical tradition. Diego Pinera was nominated in 2015 for the ECHO Music Prize in the category ‘Best Instrumentalist of the Year’.

Festival Appearances North Sea Festival, Jazzfestival ‘Garana Jazz Festival’ Romania, BLUE NOTE Milano, Riga Ritmi Jazzfestival, Dresdener Drumfestival, Jazzfestival ‘Jazztour’, Festival International Naganagua Venezuela, Bogota Jazzfestival im Teatro Libre, Guangdong Jazzfestival China, Jazzfestival Lima Peru, Malta Jazzfestival.

This album contains no booklet.