JAZZ MUSICIAN MARCOS PIN GOES ‘BIG BAND’
Spanish jazz guitarist and composer Marcos Pin has just released a new album: Barbanza, the seventh one in his music career as a leader. It has been released by the record company Free Code Jazz Records. This time, Pin has decided to take a change and go for a different kind of band set: a decatet, under the name of Factor E-Reset. Members of the ensemble, already counting on Pin, are Javier Pereiro “GDJazz” (trumpet and flugelhorn), José Luis Miranda (trombone and euphonium), Pablo Castanho (alto sax and flute). Xosé Miguélez (tenor sax), Toño Otero (tenor and baritone saxophones), Ton Risco (vibes), Manolo Gutiérrez (piano), Juansy Santomé (double bass) and Max Gómez (drums).
Six of the seven tracks from the album were composed, arranged and orchestrated by Marcos Pin. The seventh one is an arrangement of “Moment’s Notice”, written by John Coltrane, arranged and orchestrated by Pin himself as well.
This disc was recorded at Boom studios, in Vilanova de Gaia, very close to Porto, Portugal. It was mixed by renamed jazz sound engineer and bass player Ben Rubin at New York and mastered by Gene Paul (son of the legendary guitarist Les Paul) in New Jersey.
Talking about this project, Pin says their members knew each other for years and they are all outstanding Spanish jazz musicians. “For example”, he tells us, “I met Ton in Holland, where we studied together at the Royal Conservatorium”.
Regarding to how they came up with the idea of recording this one, he says “as a composer, I had an inner urge, let´s say, composing for a big ensemble”. “Then”, he adds, “we had a chance to put this act up, writing and arranging for big band descriptive and evocative pieces about the place where I live now, Barbanza’s peninsula. “San Finx”, “Bico de Mar”, “Escarabote´s Blues” and “Noite de Sereas” are written with one particular place in mind. “Bagheera´s Dilemma”, “Where Are They?” and the new arrangement of “Moment’s Notice” evoke sensations and feelings about my personal relation with this land”.
About the way he composes music, Pin says: “each piece I write down have a different approach. Usually I start up at the piano and, fewer times, at the guitar. I usually work on my leit motifs and melodies first. I normally write down the theme and, then, harmonies to it. From that point on, I work on form and arrangement and I finish it up with the orchestration. Sometimes the process is not so obvious… It depends on each piece. I prefer to let it build by itself without much brain on it...”.
The album is available on i-tunes, Amazon, spotify and at specialized stores.
