Pepe Rivero & Ángela Cervantes 'Olas y Arenas'
A delicate and elegant project, led by the Cuban pianist and composer, Pepe Rivero and the Ibizan singer Ángela Cervantes, with which they commemorate the legacy of the renowned Puerto Rican artist, Sylvia Rexach. She was a singer, composer, comedy scriptwriter and poet, to whom they pay tribute by presenting in a new way and with a new voice her sensitive work as well as her intense but short life through a selection of her songs. Days narrated through poetry & melodies, during times that straddled World War I and the bohemian nights of the ‘50s, in a world that did not see the full value of her art until after her passing.
Pianist and composer Pepe Rivero is part of the “new generation” of Cuban musicians who had their breakthrough on the international jazz scene. After finishing his classical piano studies in Havana he decided to devote himself to jazz. He participated together with other groups at jazz festivals of international renown and has worked and collaborated with numerous artists like Paquito D ́Rivera, David Murray, Jerry Gonzalez, Isaac Delgado, Javier Colina, Perico Sambeat, Gerardo Nuñez, Bobby Martinez, Alain Pérez, La Barberia del Sur, Tony Zenet & Diego “El Cigala”. He accompanied Celia Cruz in her concerts as well as in recording sessions and from the start was considered an essential component of the band. His work was not limited to executing the repertoire of the legendary interpreter, he also provided arrangements. Coming from an accredited family of musicians, he is a faithful exponent of this style of pianistic expression that he continues to enrich today and almost always starts from the structure of some unique genre of Cuban music, such as the guaguancó, the cha-cha-chá, the guajira, the conga, etc., and incorporates around it a series of interwoven and complex harmonies that he draws from his extensive repertoire as a jazz player and composer with a classical heritage.
Ángela Cervantes began singing as a young girl in the hotel where she grew up, in the Ibiza of the ‘80s & ‘90s. Amongst songs & tales of the high seas she soon knew that music was her passion and her way of discovering the world, beyond the limits of the sea. One day in 1999 she took a ferry to Barcelona to train in dance, interpretation and music. She navigated through the oceans of classical vocal technique with Federico Rey, Pepita Escandell & Raquel Lojendio. She rowed with the aid of Deborah J. Carter, to immerse herself in improvisation, in Jazz, Funk & Latin music and sailed the seas of phrasing, integration in a band & voice treatment as yet another instrument with Carme Canela & Emmanuel Djob. She deepened her further ongoing training together with Ivana Kotov, Shamanka Phoenix & Caro Guiral and attended master classes with Pat Metheny, Perico Sambeat, Sheila Jordan, Paul Farrington…
From her professional beginnings, she has collaborated with countless bands & artists in Spain. On an international level, some highlights are the world tours with Emmanuel Djob (The Black & White Xperience), the Dance Company ‘Antonio Najarro’ (Jazzing Flamenco) and the tribute to Pink Floyd featuring the magnificent band from Liverpool, Brit Floyd, in which Ángela performed the amazing solo by Clare Torry.
‘En esta orilla de Drexler” (Bost Espacio Creativo, 2012), ‘Remembering Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass” (Youkali, 2014), ‘Camino a Santa Clara… por 50 años más con los Fakires, (Cezanne, 2016)’ are her three solo discs. In 2021, following the birth of her two children, her emotions centred on Sylvia Rexach with her latest album, ‘Olas y Arenas’ (Jazz Latino Inc., 2021), conceived and produced by José E. Cruz, together with the extraordinary Pepe Rivero, pianist and arranger, who recalls the songs of this incredible Puerto Rican artist. A ‘before & after’ in the life and career path of Ángela Cervantes. Her voice, full of feeling & expressiveness, restores the legacy of Sylvia featuring a delicate repertoire full of symbology and great humanity.
Line-Up:
José Antonio Rivero Rodríguez: piano
Ángela Riera Font: vocals
Reinier Elizarde Ruano ‘El Negrón’: contrabass (15 & 16 July, Tenerife & Fuerteventura)*
Georvis Pico Milian: drums
Toño Miguel: contrabass (4 July, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)*
