Spirit of the Moment

Following up on the very intimate Solo in 2005 and the adventurous Rhapsody in Blue in 2006, Camilo makes his triumphant return to the straightahead jazz trio setting with the April 24, 2007, release of Spirit of the Moment – an album that expands on the energy and innovation of his GRAMMY winning 2003 opus, Live at the Blue Note.

Recorded live to two-track and surround by Telarc recording engineer Robert Friedrich, Spirit of the Moment brings with it a new face in the Camilo trio roster, as drummer Dafnis Prieto replaces Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez. “Dafnis is in a very tough spot,” says Camilo. “The drums chair in my trio has a very prestigious history to it. It’s a very coveted chair, and I’ve always had to pick and choose very carefully when searching for a new drummer. He has to be someone who is versatile in so many styles.” Prieto merges seamlessly with bassist Charles Flores, whose five-year tenure with the trio has given rise to what Camilo calls “a special chemistry.”

In keeping with Camilo’s personal philosophy about the universality of the number three, Spirit of the Moment is divided into three distinct chapters, each one consisting of four tunes. The opening chapter consists entirely of original material, beginning with “Just Now,” a marriage of New Orleans and Caribbean styles that sets the tone for an album rich with musical and cultural styles and shades. The heartfelt “My Secret Place” is one of two finely crafted ballads on the recording, serving as a sort of counterbalance to “A Place in Time,” which appears much later in the sequence. The title track explores the latin genre with the syncopated rhythms played by Dafnis and Camilo and Flores playing a single line in unison. The "chapter" concludes the the heart racing modern blues, "Repercussions".

Wayne Shorter’s classic “Nefertiti,” infused here with a decidedly Afro-Cuban sensibility, opens the second chapter, a four-song block that includes two other standards, a flamenco-shaded reading of Bill Evans’ “Nardis” and an alternately deconstructive and reconstructive take on Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.”  Much like the title track, "Trilogy" takes liberties with the Latin style for which Camilo is so well known.

The final chapter, which opens with the aforementioned “A Place in Time,” gives way to the progressive and challenging time signatures of “Hurry Up and Wait” and the floating gait of “Liquid Crystal.”

The closing track, a mystical sounding rendition of Miles Davis’ “Solar” – listed on this recording with the modified title of “Solar (Explorations)” – is actually an opener in many respects. “We never really play the song itself,” says Camilo. “We just explore the inner parts of the song, each in our own way. It’s a collective improvisation. The last chapter of the record opens possibilities. At the end of the album, when everything is said and done, ‘Solar (Explorations)’ is a way of saying ‘To be continued…’”

Spirit of the Moment is everything it’s title implies – a work of art whose inspiration originated at some higher plane. The eight original tracks were written in eight days, says Camilo, and most of what made the final cut were first takes. “It was unbelievable,” he says. “I just sat down and wrote all this music in a short time. It just flowed out of me. And yet, great care was taken with the details and the various textures. The more you listen, the more you will discover how deep this album is.”

Track Listings
1. Just Now 2. My Secret Place 3. Spirit of the Moment 4. Repercussions 5. Nefertiti 6. Nardis 7. Trilogy 8. Giant Steps 9. Place in Time, A 10. Hurry up and Wait 11. Liquid Crystal 12. Solar (Explorations)

Personnel
Michel Camilo - piano

Charles Flores - Bass

Dafnis Prieto - Drums