Crisálida

An accomplished bandleader and composer as well as the sole pianist of the Wayne Shorter Quartet throughout the group’s triumphant 20-plus-year run, Panamanian-born Danilo Perez has also distinguished himself as a festival director, cultural ambassador, and humanitarian. He has long sought to make music that feeds and expands on these important public roles, and *Crisálida* (“chrysalis”) is, perhaps, the clearest example to date. It’s two consecutive four-movement suites played by a group with vocals and unique instrumentation called Global Messengers. The band members are alumni of Perez’s Global Jazz Institute at Berklee College of Music: Faris Ishaq (ney flute) and Naseem Alatrash (cello) are among the first we hear on the opening of *La Muralla (Glass Walls) Suite*, soon joined by percussionist Tareq Rantisi, laouto (Greek lute) player Vasilis Kostas, and vocalist/violinist Layth Sidiq. The players hail from Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Greece, Cuba, Chile, and the US, and together they exude a selfless spirit as they blend their sounds in the service of Perez’s soaring compositions. Spoken-word passages by saxophonist Patricia Zarate (Perez’s wife) and batá drummer Román Diaz, plus celestial sounds from a Greek children’s choir, put *Crisálida* on an elevated plane as Perez articulates his utopian vision of a world united. The piano is but one texture in the multi-layered ensemble, but on “Muropatía” and the “Al-Musafir Blues” portion of the *Fronteras (Borders) Suite*, Perez kicks into higher gear, with compelling results.

Having spent much of 2018 through 2020 distinguishing himself on Grammy-winning projects by Wayne Shorter and Kurt Elling, Danilo Pérez broadly expands his own globally-minded, deeply cross-pollinated jazz with 2022's Crisálida.