Miguel Zenón, the Puerto Rico-born, New York based alto saxophonist and composer, takes yet another major creative step with Golden City, his 17th release as a leader. I have to say this one grabbed me from the first time I spun the opening track and my appreciation of the album only grows with each trip through this wide-ranging program.
Golden City is Zénon’s exploration of and tribute to the history and evolution of the West Coast’s cultural mecca, San Francisco, where he has been a member of the SFJAZZ Collective since the early 2000s. In these 11 pieces, he and his formidable ensemble dig deep into Zénon’s compositions that reflect that history, from the Bay Area’s occupation by Indigenous Ohlone people, through the Gold Rush, the effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the loss of community due to gentrification, and other historical and cultural tides and trends.
Zenón has a crack ensemble accompanying him on his sax: Matt Mitchell piano, Chris Tordini bass, Dan Weiss drums, Miles Okazaki guitar and Puerto Rican percussionist Daniel Diaz on congas and tripandero (his own invention that allows him to play three different hand drums called panderetas). Plus a horn section of mostly low brass that adds a lot of depth and color and really makes this album soar: Diego Urcola, trumpet and valve trombone; Alan Ferber, trombone; and Jacob Garchik, tuba and trombone.
Knowledge of Golden City‘s overarching concept bumped up my enjoyment of it by illuminating some of the themes and motifs employed. But even without that, this album kicks ass. It opens with one of my favorite jazz tracks of the year, “Sacred Land,” which opens with an elegiac sax solo that opens up into what’s almost an overture for what follows: catchy melodicism, driving and occasionally complex rhythms, and soul stirring passages from that horn choir.
Everything that follows sings and soars: the frenetic “Rush,” a split-mood piece that portrays the discovery of gold and its multi-faceted consequences; “Acts Of Exclusion,” which seamlessly welds driving bop with twisting jazz-rock fusion with a lofty solo passage from Okazaki on guitar; the somber and multi-layered “9066” named for the title of the Act that led to the imprisonment of Japanese Americans and confiscation of their property. The rest is inspired by more modern history has a more modern feel, including “Displacement And Erasure” (gentrification), “SRO” (single room occupancy hotels used by indigent and low-income persons), etc. It wraps with a gentle restatement of the opening theme on “The Power Of Community” followed by an epilog, “Golden,” an upbeat charge into the future.
Zenón and his ensemble are conversant with various streams and branches of jazz, from bop to Latin and various post-bop idioms. Golden City skillfully weaves them together into a supremely enjoyable whole that earns a high placement on 2024 album of the year lists.
(Miel Music, 2024)
