Recorded and mixed by Fredy Peláez at Pottoko in Beasain, this first work by the Rafa Aceves Trio, Emeki, features Rafa Aceves himself on piano, as well as the collaboration of two other essential musicians, Marcelo Escrich on double bass and Hilario Rodeiro on drums. On the one hand, Marcelo Escrich is one of the most sought-after musicians on the scene today, with an uninterrupted and prolific career full of collaborations on various projects. Records such as the acclaimed Pagoda, Aporía with Javier López Jaso or Diez años después with Miguel Salvador are good examples of his career. On the other hand, the Galician composer, producer and drummer Hilario Rodeiro, besides being part of projects such as the Pamplona Jazz Orquesta, R.S. Faktor or CiTriC, has the endorsement of having made albums such as Transoceánica, Respira, Cosmic Latte or Lila no Ceo. A recognized career crowned with awards such as BBK Awards for Best Album (R.S. Faktor), V Concurs de Jazz de Barcelona (Citric) or Academia de la Música (Mama Cabra).
Emeki, in addition to having an excellent production, turns out to be an exercise in pure spontaneity and freshness. A sincere album, without any artifice other than re-creating the moment in pure jazz elegance. A record that revolves around the search for one’s own identity. A subtle album, with solid premises and a proposal for an encounter with the unrepeatable moment through improvisation. Compositions such as Whisper not from American saxophonist, composer and arranger Benny Golson, or Blue in Green, by Bill Evans and Miles Davis that would appear on the latter’s acclaimed album Kind of Blue, give the record a rare imprint. The band moves smoothly through the dynamic and improvised passages of In love in vain, an original composition by Jerome Kern, to delight us with the delightful adaptation of Over the rainbow. Rafa Aceves writes Marian as a tribute to his sister, a composition that shows both author´s sensitivity and compositional talent. The band recreates the figure of the North American pianist Herbie Hancock on Dolphin Dance, giving us again the delicacy always quite clear along the record on Never let me go, by Jay Livingston, to end up with the recreation of the popular song La Tarara, originally recovered and adapted by Federico García Lorca.
Emeki is written in a language yet to be discovered. A language that is unpredictable and subtle. That delicate and wordless language in which, among millions of probabilities, lies the precise option. The concrete moment and no other. A note that fleetingly reveals the true essence of an artist in search of the extraordinary, in search of what he is.
