Ramón Valle once again shows himself a musical world traveler on The Time is Now, his twelfth and perhaps most personal album until now, featuring a guest appearance by his friend Roy Hargrove, the American trumpeter. Main theme of the music is connection, between various styles and cultures and between different generations.
Ramwas mainly inspired by watching music videos with his children Dayla (7) and Fabio (10), by stars such as Rihanna and Bruno Mars, but also by Michael Jackson, who he considers ‘the greatest’. His motive was to connect the new ways of expression with the musical heritage from Cuba given to him by his parents and grandparents.
‘Valle is equally adept at intensely swinging like Oscar Peterson – but with a groove that reflects the syncopation of the Afro-Cuban clave-playing pop music or reveling in the island’s many traditional rhythms. And like any of the pianists who record for ECM, Valle can draw the curtain down around himself and play powerfully introspective music’ (Jazz Times).
Ramón Valle piano, Omar Rodriguez Calvo bas, Jamie Peet drums