Remi Álvarez - Cráneo de Jade (2019)

In the vast panorama of the art of each nation there are always committed and talented musicians who, instead of looking for banal glory, aspire to easy popularity or seek personal gains, assume the responsibility of obeying only their inspiration and decide to develop their ideology creative to the spell of that which allows them to freely express their own identity. Without adjusting to fads, without making concessions, without abiding by contextual limitations.
When an artist follows his vocation and manifests fidelity with that call of inspiration, he is not only transforming his inner world into art, but he is also enriching the cultural heritage of his people and providing a qualified social service for the benefit of the community.
In the free exercise of his individuality, the artist inspires others to expand their consciousness, encourages the development of critical thinking, offers alternatives to the prevailing system and encourages them to adopt ethical behavior based on an indelible commitment to their own convictions.
The different vocations of each artist not only determine the scope of their service but also indicate the tasks that must be assumed, the hard work to which they must submit and the responsibilities they must face.
However, when an artist makes a creative decision instead of thinking about contextual difficulties or circumstantial problems, he usually opens up fully to an intrinsic motivation that frees the mind of attachments or conveniences to go with determination to meet his own destiny . That behavior is what Arthur Kohler called "the sudden understanding of means and ends" and that encourages an individual to make a decision, accepting the difficulties that this implies but without feeling limited by them.

The above seems to be fully exemplified in the career of the remarkable saxophonist, flutist and Mexican improviser Remi Álvarez; who with his constancy, courage, fidelity and aptitude has kept alive the flame of the free-jazz of his country in the last decades.
Embrace the aesthetics of free jazz has always been difficult at any time and place, but we intuit that doing so in a nation without cultural heritage in that genre must mean facing extraordinary difficulties. Which, undoubtedly, further enhances the tireless work developed by Remi Alvarez and some of his Mexican peers in favor of the free-jazz scene in that country.
The academic training of Remi Álvarez includes studies of transverse flute at the National Conservatory of Music with maestro Rubén Islas; Bachelor of Jazz at the Escuela Superior de Música; composition and improvisation studies at Creative Music Studios with Don Cherry, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton and George Lewis; advanced improvisation course at the Vancouver Creative Music Institute with George Lewis and Evan Parker and master classes with saxophonist Steve Lacy.
The different nuances that distinguish the disturbing musical landscape that Remi Álvarez proposes run with the same authority of experimental jazz, free and free improvisation but always maintaining an unwavering center in the exploration of new creative horizons.
In 1994 he founded the free improvisation trio Cráneo de Jade, whose original lineup included Remi Álvarez on alto sax, baritone, soprano and tenor, Aarón Cruz on double bass and Tony Gall on drums. With this integration they released the albums Cráneo de Jade in 1996 and Papirolas in 1999. Later Gall left his place to drummer Hernán Hetch and the album Pleiione of 2002 would arrive. Other of the most consistent projects in Álvarez's career are the FAS trio and Antimatter. The first of the aforementioned is a jazz-mexican ensemble set up in 2005 where the bassist David Sánchez and the drummer Jorge Fernández also participate. While the second is a trio of free-jazz and free improvisation founded at the end of 2006 integrated by Remi Álvarez on alto sax and tenor, Itzam Cano on double bass and Gabriel Lauber on drums.

Among his most recent collective ventures we can mention the Remi Álvarez Trío, (band formed by its leader in alto sax, tenor saxophone and flute, Arturo Báez in double bass and Gustavo Nandayapa) and the acoustic project IC887 that Juan José Rivas completes in media electronic and Fernando Vigueras in acoustic and electronic guitar.
Remi Álvarez has also been part of Astillero for more than ten years, a group that has animated the Mexican jazz scene during the last quarter of a century.
Of the multiple formats covered by Álvarez, the duet has been one of the most visited; This is evidenced by his experiences with drummers Milo Tamez and Gabriel Lauber, his duo with Catalan guitarist Pere Soto (with whom he is about to release the album Remisotopos), his partnership with the Scandinavian bass player Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten and his project in American bassist company Mark Dresser, recently documented through the album Soul to Soul.
All this without forgetting to mention its stage presence with musicians of the caliber of William Parker, Rodrigo Amado, Hamid Drake, Dennis Gonzalez, Sabir Mateen, Aaron González, Ernest Dawkins, Michael Vatcher, Stefan González, Tayeb Laoufi, Vinz Vonlanthen and Joe Morris , among others.
It is also worth mentioning his constant pedagogical work, since Álvarez has been a sax and jazz teacher at the National School of Music of the UNAM since 1991 to date.
Remi Álvarez gave us the privilege of sharing some of the ideas and stories that make up his exciting creative universe. Enjoy it.