August 4, 2023
Pianist Harold López-Nussa has released the uplifting new single “Hope” from his forthcoming Blue Note debut Timba a la Americana out August 25, a vibrant album teeming with joy and pathos that was inspired by his recent decision to leave his Cuban homeland and begin a new life in France. Produced by Michael League of Snarky Puppy, Timba a la Americana presents 10 dynamic new original compositions performed by a tight-knit band featuring harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret, Luques Curtis on bass, Bárbaro “Machito” Crespo on congas, and Harold’s brother Ruy Adrián López-Nussa on drums.
“I composed this track in Havana while I was still living in Cuba, during the lockdown from Covid,” says Harold. “The lockdown in Cuba was really long, almost one year, and I was getting depressed without live music. I found this hope playing this groove over and over, and I later created the melody on top, just having fun with the section. Playing this tune always brings me some happiness and I really hope that other people can feel the same way.”
López-Nussa has been building a global following over the past two decades since winning the prestigious Montreux Jazz Piano Competition in 2005. He has captivated audiences across the world with his thrilling performances, released nine acclaimed albums as a leader, and was featured as part of the 2011 all-star project Ninety Miles with Stefon Harris, David Sanchez, and Christian Scott. Born into a musical family in Havana, his music reflects the full range and richness of the Cuban musical tradition with its distinctive combination of folkloric, popular, and classical elements, as well as its embrace of improvisation.
On Timba a la Americana, López-Nussa felt a strong urge to escape the conventional thinking about song form and structure that’s defined Latin jazz since the 1950s. In collaboration with League, the bassist and founder of Snarky Puppy, the two sought new settings for the clave patterns that are the heartbeat of Cuban music. They grabbed elements of danzon, the foundational dance that began in Matanzas in the late 1800s, and the stately son tumbao riffs that frame the songs of Beny More and so many others. They worked with ancient bata drum rhythms used to summon the deities, then incorporated them into the choppy polyrhythmic agitations of modern improvising collectives. They linked the catcalling mambos of Dizzy Gillespie and Machito to modern ideas about song structure.
The result is López-Nussa’s most expansive and ambitious work to date, a provocative, lavishly colorful song cycle that amounts to a top-to-bottom modernization of Latin jazz. Cuba provides the anchoring point of origin; from there López-Nussa and his band volley ideas in a spirit of cosmopolitan modernity that transcends regions and genres and eras.
