Miguel Zenón

Miguel Zenón
Background information
Birth name	Miguel A. Zenón
Born	December
Genres	Jazz
Instruments	Alto saxophone, flute
Labels	Marsalis Music
Website	miguelzenon.com
Members
Luis Perdomo, Hans Glawischnig, Henry Cole

Miguel Zenon, moers festival 2009

Miguel Zenón (born December 1976) is an alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader.

Biography

Miguel Zenón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. While studying at the Escuela Libre de Musica in San Juan,^[1] he won a scholarship to the “Berklee in Puerto Rico” program of the Berklee College of Music and a scholarship to attend Berklee College in Boston. While at Berklee, Zenón became immersed in jazz and began performing with drummer Bob Moses’ Mozamba and the Either/Orchestra. After completing his undergraduate degree, Zenón moved to New York, where he was awarded a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music, graduating with a Masters Degree in 2001.

After gaining initial attention as a sideman in the ensembles of Ray Barretto and David Sánchez, Zenón organized his own band in 2001, featuring pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Antonio Sanchez (replaced in 2005 by Henry Cole). The quartet’s first recording, Looking Forward, was released by Spain’s Fresh Sounds/New Talent label in 2002. A year later, Zenón became one of the first artists signed by saxophonist Branford Marsalis’ new label Marsalis Music, which has subsequently released Ceremonial in 2004; Jibaro, an homage to the rural folk music of Puerto Rico composed with grant support from the New York State Council of the Arts, in 2005; and Awake, a collection of original compositions in which Zenón’s quartet is supplemented by a string quartet and horns, in 2008. In addition to his own quartet, Zenón has maintained affiliations with several other leading jazz groups, including the SFJazz Collective, of which he is a founding member; Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra; and Guillermo Klein’s Los Gauchos. Zenón has also participated extensively in jazz education programs, including the New School in New York, Canada’s Banff Centre and the touring Marsalis Jams program.

Among his many awards, Zenón was named a Kennedy Center Jazz Ambassador and toured West Africa in 2003, won the Rising Star Alto Saxophone award in the Down Beat Critics Poll in 2004-6 and 2008 and the Best New Artist award in the JazzTimes Readers Poll in 2006, and received a Guggenheim grant to compose an extended work on the subject of Puerto Rican plena music in April 2008. He was one of 25 recipients of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in September 2008. His 2009 release, Esta Plena was nominated for a Grammy as Best Latin Jazz Album.^[2]

Miguel is signed to the Cambridge, MA based record label, Marsalis Music.

Discography

• Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook, 2011
• Live 2010 7th Annual Concert Tour w. SFJAZZ Collective, 2010 ^[3]
• Live 2009 6th Annual Concert Tour w. SFJAZZ Collective, 2009 ^[4]
• Esta Plena, 2009
• Paoli Mejias, 2008
• Live 2008 5th Annual Concert Tour w. SFJAZZ Collective, 2008
• Filtros, w. Guillermo Klein, 2008
• Panorama, w. Hans Glawischnig, 2008
• Awake, 2008
• Live 2007 4th Annual Concert Tour w. SFJAZZ Collective, 2007
• Live at The Jazz Gallery w. The Jason Lindner Big Band, 2007
• Live 2006 3rd Annual Concert Tour w. SFJAZZ Collective, 2007
• Spheres of Influence Suite w. Brian Lynch, 2006
• Transcend w. Paoli Mejias 2006
• Jíbaro, 2005
• Last Quarter Moon w. Chiara Civello, 2005
• Ceremonial, 2004
• Los Guachos w. Guillermo Klein, 2002
• Landmark w. Mika Pohjola and Ben Monder, 2002
• Still Alive w. Mika Pohjola and Ben Monder, 2001
• Looking Forward, 2001
• Edu Tancredi & Bandon 33, 1998

Album Reviews

• Jibaro Review @ The Lamp.ca

References

1. ^ Blumenfeld, Larry (December 18, 2008). "His Jazz Career's Rich Rewards". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122955502070315989.html. Retrieved Jul 09, 2010. 
2. ^ Grammy Nominations
3. ^ "Live 2010 7th Annual Concert Tour". http://sfjazz.org/content/sfjazz-collective-3-cd-set-live-2010-7th-annual-concert-tour. Retrieved Aug 17, 2011. 
4. ^ "Live 2009 6th Annual Concert Tour". http://sfjazz.org/content/sfjazz-collective-2-cd-set-live-2009-6th-annual-concert-tour. Retrieved Aug 17, 2011. 

External links

• Miguel Zenon's artist page
• Works by or about Miguel Zenón in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Miguel Zenón collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• "Miguel Zenon: Jazz Sherpa " by Lawrence Peryer (AllAboutJazz.com), October 10, 2011 - extensive interview
• "In Conversation with Miguel Zenón" by Tomas Peña (Jazz.com), March 25, 2008
• a review of "Awake" from Jazzchicago.net ([1]), 2008
• San Francisco Jazz Collective - official site on sfjazz.com, 2008

Persondata
Name	Zenon, Miguel
Alternative names
Short description	Puerto Rican Saxophonist
Date of birth	1976
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death