Miguel Zenón, one of this generation’s premier saxophonists, has been the leader on 18 albums since record producers recognized him as a unique talent deserving the jazz community’s attention. As a result, Zenón first recorded Looking Forward on the Fresh Sound New Talent label in 2002 and then Ceremonial on the Marsalis Music label in 2004.

The jazz community took notice.

So did the rest of the world.

In the past 20 years, Zenón has continued to receive recognition after recognition, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the Doris Duke Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Grammy Award, and an Honorary Doctorate from La Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Just as remarkable is the fact that Zenón has had the same quartet for the past 20 years.

To celebrate the quartet’s twentieth anniversary, Zenón’s Miel Music label has released Vanguardia Subterránea. The album features eight tracks from two nights in September 2024 of the quartet’s performances in the world’s most renowned jazz club, the Village Vanguard, where so many legendary jazz performances have been recorded.

Zenón has remained consistent in his vision and in his style, making his voice on the alto saxophone one that’s instantly identifiable.

The themes that he introduced on his first recordings remain important to him, and they remain relevant two decades later. For instance, the first track on Looking Forward is “Prayer #1 (Blessing).” The young musician who asked for a blessing as he began his recording career is the same seasoned and artistically honest musician who includes “Bendición” on Vanguardia Subterránea. Zenón explained that “you say ‘bendición’…when you see your elders. You ask for their blessing…. That’s the first thing I say to them.”

Yet, Zenón’s muse is his own, and the themes of his albums, generated by the breadth of his imagination, defy expectations.

For example, Identities Are Changeable is a multi-media project that includes the quartet’s music, but it also includes interviews with New York City residents of Puerto Rican heritage. On Yo Soy La Tradición, Zenón’s quartet updates folkloric Puerto Rican compositions with the strings of the Chicago-based Spektral Quartet. Golden City, which was commissioned by SFJAZZ and the Hewlett Foundation, consists of Zenón’s compositions for a nonet that capture events of San Francisco’s history through a multimedia production that was later released as an album.

But…

Despite all the musical avenues that Zenón’s albums have explored, he had never released a live album.

Until now.

It’s time.

After twenty years.

Listeners can sense the crackling energy in the room at the Village Vanguard on Vanguardia Subterránea, that energy invigorating both the audience and the quartet with in-the-moment reciprocal responses that are unique to live performances.

Zenón’s song selection is varied—both in enthrall the audience, as do the electrifying and pulsating solos on the first track “Abre Cuto Güiri Mambo”—and to present the group’s impressive range of talent.

On the one hand, Zenón plays for the first time new compositions. He developed “Coordenadas” mathematically from, ingeniously, the geographical coordinates of the band member’s birthplaces and of the Village Vanguard, thereby honoring the hallowed jazz club and each of the musicians in a musical way. Each of the coordinates signified a pitch, which Zenón organized into a composition enlivened by the quartet’s characteristic rhythms.

Zenón’s thoughtfulness about the music he plays indicates that, in addition to being a rousing musician, he’s a thinker who deliberates about the improvised art that he creates.

On the other hand, Zenón, always humble and appreciative, expresses through his music his gratitude to influences who helped shape his career. None is more immediate than the “Vanguardia Subterránea” track, which consists of a seemingly relaxed out-of-meter melody hovering above drummer Henry Cole’s subterranean percussiveness. Calmly forceful and propulsive, the drummed pattern continues until the other three musicians join Cole at 1:53. A frolicking six-eight phrase frames the remainder of the piece. Its volume and its thrills build to the moment of the audience’s spontaneous applause, which continues until the performance ends.

“El Día de Mi Suerte” (or, ironically titled, “the day of my luck”) celebrates the music of its Puerto Rican composers, Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe, whose music Zenón studied as he began to perform professionally as a teenager in Puerto Rico. Rather than repeating the melody, Zenón transforms the piece into an exuberant improvisational ride of rapidity, metrical contrasts, precision of articulation, harmonic imagination, and an attention-getting cleverness that contrasts stop-on-a-dime silent pauses with irrepressible attacks.

Similarly, “Perdóname” recalls famous Puerto Rican singer, Jorge Luis Piloto. The lyrical nature of the song departs from the high-spirited improvisations of some of the other tracks. Yet, pianist Luis Perdomo builds a solo-length crescendo to an applause-worthy conclusion. Afterward, so does the entire quartet, adding suspense with a quieter reference to the melody, which they bookended with wild improvisations.

The audience cheered.

Wildly.

While “Bendición” alludes to a common Puerto Rican greeting, Zenón doubled the piece’s respectful allusions by dedicating it to his mother, Nancy Matos Soto. Bassist Hans Glawischnig’s understated introduction leads into Zenón’s melody, which proceeds from the delicacy of it serene first presentation to its more impassioned development. In addition, Zenón’s grandmother, 95-year-old Jovita Soto Santiago, inspired “Vita,” his family, near and far, being in his heart as he performed at the Vanguard. “Vita” consists of a melody that Zenón first wrote for his grandmother’s birthday and which he subsequently arranged for the quartet. Zenón delivers that melody in rubato fashion, backed by Cole, until :41, when the bass and drum’s chacarera rhythm expands the song’s textures and deepens its feeling.

Appropriately, exactly a year later, the Miguel Zenón Quartet celebrates its twentieth year with a week-long residency at the Village Vanguard—an event to remember.

How much more celebratory could its music be than what’s heard on the exhilarating Vanguardia Subterránea album?

Except for the patrons lucky enough to hear the quartet live, Vanguardia Subterránea 2 may let us know.

Artist’s and Label’s Web Site: www.miguelzenon.com
Retail Web Site: https://miguelzenon.bandcamp.com/album/vanguardia-subterr-nea-live-at-the-village-vanguard