FLUTIST YULIA MUSAYELYAN LEADS ARMENIAN REPRESENTATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ SCENE

Blue Music Group

J an 19 2010

New original-minded artists on the international jazz scene are
a necessity for the development of this now global music. Ethnic
influences from around the world have been popular for some time. Some
of these influences, Latin music in particular, have become so
common that they have in fact been included to the center of the jazz
vocabulary. Armenian flutist Yulia Musayelyan’s debut album, Caminos,
incorporates Latin music very successfully with her native roots. She
has teamed up with fellow Armenian pianist, Vardan Ovsepian, and a
top Argentinian rhythm section, bassist Fernando Huergo and drummer
Franco Pinna. Musayelyan utilizes the rhythm section in her favor, she
directs the band commendably, and grooves as if she were a dual-native,
balancing somewhere between Armenia and Argentina.

Musayelyan’s sound has strong classical inflections, she was trained
at the Moscow Conservatory and New England Conservatory in Boston, but
she also possesses a strong sense for harmonic improvisation, although
her foundation is based on roots other than traditional jazz. This is
a subtle but welcome detail. Huergo and Pinna are known from the bands
of Marta Gómez, Julio Santillán and Grupo Nuevo, and – as always –
they render sparkling and tight duo work. Musayelyan’s virtuosity is
highlighted on Heraclio Fernandez’ "El Diablo Suelto." Recommended.