Music Sin Fronteras: Viaje Adentro, an unforgettable journey

Today I am reviewing two pieces of music from the same band, Cienfuegos, a five-piece progressive jazz band based in Guadalajara. They released an album this year, Viaje Adentro (Journey Inside), and a song, “Levitando” (Lifting), the second song on the album, released separately.  Both are must-haves for jazz fans.

Progressive jazz is an acquired taste. It does not follow standard rhythms (but sometimes uses them). It is often cerebral and introduces notes and sounds made by band members using their instruments in ways not often found in “pop” music.  The result is music that is often mesmerizing and intellectual at the same time – Viaje Adentro is that in spades. It is music you listen to with your mind and muscles and ears – and sometime with them turned off so it is the feeling and emotion that carries you.

Cienfuegos is made up of five very, very talented musicians who create this mesmerizing and cerebral music: The group is composed of Paco Pérez-Rul (Guitar), Chen Quintero  (Saxophone), Gilberto Ríos (double bass) and Esteban Zamora (drums), as well as its first singer, Libni Casher.

In Viaje Adentro, these five people have created something unique. You can’t dance to it, but you can dream of it, and you can dream you are dancing. And you can create your own story to it. That is because Viaja Adentro is exactly what its name means – it is a journey you take inside, reading the road signs and following the landmarks that the songs bring you as they flow into your ears and through your cerebellum. It allows you to create the adventure, but it helps show you the paths.

And the paths vary. “Entre Ruinas” shows you jungle paths; “Viaje Adentro” gives you landmarks in a sophisticated city; “La Sombra” lets you dance through a garden; “Expiral” and “Oleaje” take you through movie sets, caves, and laboratories. Each song is a different journey on your inside, but as the players trade-off and harmonize they take you in, and welcome you as more than just a listener, but a fellow traveler.

This brings me to “Levitando” where you are a fellow traveler.   Libni Casher, whose vocals help power all of the songs, but as notes rather than words, takes this to pop and rock territory (emphasized by a little guitar shredding by Paco Pérez-Rul). An extraordinary singer with precise vocal control who also records folk and traditional Mexican songs like “La Llorona”, she brings not only goddess energy to the music but a new depth and range that makes it shine and glitter. She is a recent addition to the formerly all-instrumental group and a transformative one.

As I said above, modern progressive jazz is an acquired taste, one that I did not have until I moved to Mexico 4 years ago. I was very fortunate that soon after moving here, I met Gilberto Rios, the double bass player in Cienfuegos (and other bands), who helped me acquire that taste.

Whether you have acquired it or not, Viaje Adentro will take you on an unforgettable journey, and you won’t even have to leave your earbuds.