Grammy-nominated Cuban musicians Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez perform together at Kingsbury Hall on Friday, Feb. 6, part of the University of Utah’s UtahPresents series. Doors are at 7:30 p.m.
Alfredo Rodriguez has lots of stories to tell. The irony: he prefers listening.
Listening to what others have to say is key to learning, and it’s how he approaches much in his life, he says. That’s a lesson mentor Quincy Jones taught him early in his career. When we connected by phone a couple of weeks ago, he was in Florida, set to begin a tour the next day and releasing his new album ¡TAKE COVER! the same week.
Lucky for me, though, he talked far more than I did. I discovered Rodriguez is a composer who improvises as an antidote to repeating himself, and he’s able to adapt his performance to however his audience receives him. It heightens the adventure for him, he says, allowing him to always find new territory in his playing.
“The piano is playing in my mind every day, every second. Even now, I’m playing the piano; I’m thinking about the structure of it, how I can listen to a sound and transform it,” Rodriguez says. “I hear rhythms everywhere … when someone walks, when they dance, when they talk … and I then translate those melodies and sounds into music.”
The backstory to his improvisational style stems from an album his uncle left behind when moving out of his apartment: it was 1973’s The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett. The record flipped a switch in Rodriguez’s 13-year-old mind when he heard it. He immediately began to emulate its style. It wasn’t until much later that he learned the recording was made up on the spot … and it made him like it even more.
“It was so engaging for my soul and ears. It felt like [Jarrett] was flying as he played, and I discovered I wanted to do similarly,” Rodriguez says. “I discovered at an early age I could improvise, combining notes together, and it’s been an endless discovery ever since.”
A later life story — one he likens to living the American dream — is when he had a chance meeting with the late Quincy Jones while playing in Europe. Once Jones heard Rodriguez play, he was enchanted, wanting to help Rodriguez capitalize on his talent, only he was living in Cuba at the time. Rodriguez knew better than to let that opportunity pass him by.
In his early 20s, he chose to defect from his native Cuba to the United States, even briefly being arrested in the attempt. Such is the cost of choosing to follow dreams that outweigh consequences.
“I crossed the border from Mexico to the United States with only a suitcase full of my music charts,” Rodriguez says. “I didn’t have anything else with me.” He didn’t speak English yet and gave up the security of having his mom or dad nearby. Instead, Jones took Rodriguez under his wing and became like family to him over the next 15 years, allowing him to travel all over the country and throughout the world, sharing his talent.
The chance to play alongside Pedrito Martinez, that’s another story still being told. It doesn’t have an ending yet, and that’s largely on purpose: Rodriguez doesn’t want the collaboration to stop. Aside from frequently touring together, they have recorded an album as a duo, and Martinez also guests on his latest album (his seventh!). The more they play together, the better they’re able to get. Both are allowed to challenge new levels of what can be created with a lot of hours of practice.
“We both have a positive and upbeat energy all the time,” Rodriguez says of playing alongside Martinez. “When we’re both on stage, the show is like fire. It’s explosive.”
“When we are playing, we have amazing communication. That reflects in the music. We love each other, and we cry with each other onstage. The audience engages with that … they may like or not like what we do, but we’re still going to give 100% of our love, passion, and life to them anyway, sharing what is in our hearts, soul, roots, and culture.”
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