Acclaimed GRAMMY Award-nominated bassist and composer Carlos Henriquez is thrilled to present his fourth album as a bandleader, A Nuyorican Tale.

Following in the footsteps of his GRAMMY-nominated release The South Bronx Story, Henriquez’s new album is rooted in Nuyorican culture, and shines a light on the complex history of Puerto Ricans in New York City.

Joining Henriquez on this important new work is vocalist and flutist Jeremy Bosch, trumpeters Mike Rodriguez and Terrell Stafford, trombonist Marshall Gilkes, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, pianist Robert Rodriguez, percussionist Anthony Almonte, and drummer Obed Calvaire. A Nuyorican Tale releases independently on September 15th, 2023.

Connection to the ancestors is a major tenant of A Nuyorican Tale, and a driving force behind the bassist’s latest work. Henriquez told journalist Ed Morales in a recent article in the New York Times: “I’m working on my next album and I realize we’re right in the middle of this neighborhood that used to be called San Juan Hill.”

“And then I find out, we used to live here, with African Americans, and Benny Carter wrote a suite called Echoes of San Juan Hill, and Thelonious Monk used to play here. I came to realize how valuable this neighborhood was, and I found this out because I was yearning to find my connection to jazz.”

1. Nuyorican Souls
2. Bodegas Groove
3. Latin Gemini
4. Afro-Monk
5. My Isla Bonita
6. Chankalet’s Blues
7. Robert’s Red Line
8. Ritmo’s
9. Winds of Change

With the idea for this new album having been first conceived in 2019, but was put on hold due to the pandemic, it opens here on the rhythmically smooth Nuyorican Souls (which discusses Puerto Rican’s as an unseen child) and the hipsway of Bodegas Groove (which comes complete with a stand alone solo from trumpeter Terrel Stafford, and where the bodega delis Henriquez grew up around are tipped the hat) and then proceeds to bring us some enchanted melodies within Latin Gemini, and the upright bass-led Afro Monk (which is not only a combination of American jazz with an Afro-Cuban vibe, but pays respect to the great Thelonius Monk).

Along next on this collection of tracks where these Latin-Jazz interpretations of the stories that he feels are the pinnacle and representation of his life, is the languishing My Isla Bonita and the forthright Chankalet’s Blues and they are backed seamlessly by the foot-tapping, finger-snapping Robert’s Red Line (which is based on a true story about New York City’s redlining and how the government labeled San Juan Hill a slum), the album rounding out on the intoxicating Ritmo’s, closing on the atmopsherically-charged Winds of Change.

“A Nuyorican Tale is more than just music. It is a three-dimensional acknowledgment of souls from Africa, and our native Taino family all blended as one. When you combine these, you experience a Nuyorican: one who carries the torch and bears the rhythmic souls of our ancestors.”

Spotify Purchase Link

www.carloshenriquezmusic.com