Newport Jazz Festival

Miguel Zenon Rayuela Quartet Live From Newport

Saxophonist Miguel Zenón performs with pianist Laurent Coq at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival.
Erik Jacobs for NPR

Saxophonist Miguel Zenón performs with pianist Laurent Coq at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival.

Miguel Zenón's Rayuela Quartet, Live In Concert: Newport Jazz 2012

August 5, 2012The alto saxophonist teamed up with pianist Laurent Coq to write music based on the high-modernist Julio Cortázar novel Hopscotch — or Rayuela, in the original Spanish. With an unusual band, they let their literary and musical imaginations run wild.

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

It may be billed as a gig for the alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón, who is making his third Newport appearance in four years, but he would refuse complete credit. He teamed up with the French pianist Laurent Coq to co-write an album's worth of music inspired on the high-modernist Julio Cortázar novel Hopscotch — Rayuela, in the original Spanish. It calls for a cello and a trombone — Dana Leong plays both — and a drummer who can play tablas, so an obvious choice was Dan Weiss. Together, the quartet's literary and musical imagination runs wild.

Set List
  • "Talita"
  • "La Muerta de Rocamadour"
  • "Traveler"
  • "La Maga"
  • "El Club de la Serpiente"
Personnel
  • Miguel Zenón, alto saxophone
  • Laurent Coq, piano
  • Dana Leong, cello/trombone
  • Dan Weiss, drums/tabla