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N P R Jazz Critics Poll
"Puerto de Buenos AIres 1933" chosen by the NPR Jazz Critics Poll
13 th Annual Jazz Critics Poll
Who Are the Critics ?
N A C C
"Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933"
is among the top 30 Latin Charts by the NACC Radio,
The North American College and Community Chart.
JAZZIZ Critics' Pick - Mark Holston (#1) Neil Tesser (#5)
Reactions to EL ECO’s new CD,
Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933
This is a beautiful and important record.
— Brazilian Jazz Vocalist Luciana Souza
Excellent material! And great musicians! And I love that the music is rooted in personal identity - something that I always try to include in what I do.
— Oscar-Winning Film Composer Gustavo Santaolalla
There is something very powerful in these compositions. The music is very expressive and dense – in the good sense of the word – and it grows on you.
— Award-Winning Composer Osvaldo Golijov
REviewS
of Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933
Review
All About Jazz
Guillermo Nojechowicz's El Eco: Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933
"…passion and urgency are always paramount, providing the underlying vitality that is essential to the album's success."
—Troy Dostert, All About Jazz
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Review
From JAZZIZ Magazine
With plenty of full-throated jazz soloing, the album has one foot in the southern hemisphere and one in the north, and the personnel also straddles the equator: Guillermo Nojechowicz’s sextet El Eco (The Echo)
is rounded out by American trumpet ace Brian Lynch, Argentinian bassist Fernando Huergo, Brazilian pianist Helio Alves, and Italian saxophonist Marco Pignataro, with a string quartet added for additional grandeur.
Conceived in solemnity and impressively executed with passion and precision, it succeeds entirely.
—Neil Tesser, JAZZIZ
Review
El Eco with Guillermo Nojechowicz: Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933 is
WRTI "Album of the Week"
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Review
JAZZ WEEK reports that El Eco - Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933 is #57 on the list of "Most Added" to radio playlists this week!
jazzweek.com/charts
Review
From JAZZ WEEKLY
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****
El Eco with Guillermo Nojechowicz: Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933
Each piece includes dashes of drama and pathos, with irresistible rhythms and harmonies, making this a thrill ride through a musical prism. Check this one out!
— George W. Harris December 18, 2017
Review
From LATIN JAZZ NETWORK honorando la tradición
Latin Jazz Pick: El Eco with Guillermo Nojechowicz: Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933
Guillermo Nojechowicz casts Kim Nazarian in the storyteller’s role. With breathtaking, often wordless vocalastics Miss Nazarian tells the tale of migration that began with the drummer’s grandmother’s escape to Argentina from Poland.The heat and dust is celebrated in all its glory by a letting loose of the monumental rhythms of Latin America through the fire of drums, fanned of course by the rest of the instrumentation, led by the voice, but also memorably enriched by woodwinds and brass; piano, bass and percussion, all of which is fluffed out in the arrangements played out by an exquisite string quartet.
— Raul da Gama November 22, 2017
Review
From rant 'n roll - THE AQUARIAN
A Stunning Masterpiece
Puerto de Buenas Aires 1933 (Zoho Music) by El Eco with Guillermo Nojechowicz puts into music the path taken by the drummer/composer’s father and grandmotherwhen they left Poland for Argentina to escape the Nazis. Stunningly cinematic, wholly engrossing, El Eco features 13 musicians on 10 tracks that get more and more dramatic. Opener “Milonga Para Los Ninos” fuses folkloric rhythms from Uruguay with tango. The snare drum sound of “Europe 1933” is an echo of the forced death marches that those not lucky enough to leave Poland had to endure. The title track features an Argentinian rhythm known as chacarera, heard for decades as a rural
counterpart to the more urban tango. “I Loved You Too,” with its vaguely Middle Eastern snake-charmer feel, is another highlight. Wholeheartedly recommended.
— Mike Greenblatt November 22, 2017
Review
From MIDWEST RECORD
EL ECO with GUILLERMO NOJECHOWICZ/Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933
Imagine a set inspired by a passport photo of ancestors on the run from hardship. What would you imagine the music to be? Probably nothing like the stuff unfolding here. Atmospheric jazz with a real cinematic scope by a cat that knows his way around film work. Certainly an ensemble work as everyone here really contributes, this stuff is somewhere off to the side of where they don't make stuff like this anymore. An engrossing outing, this is sure to capture the attention of the adult listener really looking for something solid but really different. Check it out.
— Chris Spector, Editor and Publisher
Copyright 2017 Midwest Record, November 1, 2017
Review
From THE EPOCH TIMES
Albums Reviews-‘Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico,’ ‘Songs We Like,’ and ‘Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933’
Family values in jazz
Recent releases highlight jazz artists’ deep familial connections. Some celebrate their forebears and some present family members performing together.
Valdés and O’Farrill
On the double-CD set, “Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico” (on Motema), Arturo O’Farrill and Chucho Valdés pay tribute to their late fathers Arturo “Chico” O’Farrill (1921–2001) and Bebo Valdés (1918–2013). They represent two of the leading dynasties of Afro-Cuban jazz.
Chico and Bebo worked together at the Tropicana Club in Cuba (where Chico was the arranger for the house orchestra and Bebo was the pianist). Both men went into exile after the revolution, going separate ways (Chico came to the United States while Bebo moved to Sweden) but continuing as composers, arrangers, and bandleaders. Their pieces and arrangements were played by top American jazz artists, from Dizzy Gillespie to Count Basie and both men had late career resurgences, capped by Grammy wins and nominations and an appearance together in the 2000 documentary film “Calle 54.”
On the set, Chucho and Arturo even bring in their own talented children: pianist Leyanis Valdés, drummer Jessie Valdés, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummer Zack O’Farrill.
The biggest surprise is a stunning guest spot by sitarist Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar, on “Raja Ram.” This fits in with the family theme and the musical cross-pollination is successful.
The set contains one CD featuring the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and the other the Third Generation Ensemble. The songs are a mix of classics by Bebo (“Ecuación” and “Con Poco Coco”) and Chico (“Pura Emoción” and “Pianitis”), plus originals by their sons and grandsons.
Guillermo Nojechowicz
The new album by Buenos Aires-born drummer/composer Guillermo Nojechowicz is a tribute of a different sort. “Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933” (on Zoho) is a musical recreation of his grandmother’s escape from Poland at the time of the rise of the Nazis and her safe arrival with Guillermo’s father in Argentina, where the family remained.
Nojechowicz had studied film scoring at Berklee College of Music and the album resembles a jazz movie score. The music is played by the El Eco ensemble featuring Argentinean bassist Fernando Huergo, Brazilian pianist Helio Alves, Italian saxophonist Marco Pignataro and New York Voices co-founder Kim Nazarian. Guest trumpeter Brian Lynch adds excitement to “Puerto de Buenos Aires,” “The Possibility of Change” and “Friday Night Mambo.” Italian accordionist Roberto Cassan brings a tango feeling to “Para Los Ninos” and “Europe 1933” ... Nazarian’s vocals are outstanding and Nojechowicz even sings on a couple of tracks. The only non-original piece is Hermeto Pascoal’s “Bebe” The album ends on a happy note with “Friday Night Mambo.”
“Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933” is an ambitious and powerful work.
— By Barry Bassis October 28, 2017
Barry Bassis has been a music, theater, and travel writer for over a decade for various publications, including Epoch Times.
PRESS RELEASES
12/5/2017
GUILLERMO NOJECHOWICZ TRIO with Plamen Karadonev, Zdenek Kansky, and Guillermo Nojechowicz at the Sahara Club — Tuesday, December 5, Methuen, MA
11/1/2017
EL ECO with Helio Alves, Fernando Huergo, Kim Nazarian, Marco Pignataro, Guillermo Nojechowicz & Brian Lynch at the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival — Wednesday, November 1
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10/13/017
EL ECO with Helio Alves, Fernando Huergo, Marco Pignataro, & Guillermo Nojechowicz at Ryles Jazz Club — Friday, October 13, Cambridge, MA
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10/12/2017
CD LAUNCH
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