Profile
Origin: Havana, Cuba
Genre: World Music, Classical, Latin Jazz
Years active: 2015 – present
Years i play: 2015 – present
Label: Naxos World Music
Website: www.yamilecruzmontero.com
Members:
Yamilé Cruz Montero (CUB) – piano
Christos Asonitis (GRE) – drums, percussion
Discography: Rapsodia Cubana (2021)
About
The Cuban classical pianist Yamilé Cruz Montero and the Greek jazz drummer Christos Asonitis are a couple in life and also in music. Although they come from two different musical worlds, they have found a common language.
Both of them arrange classical to contemporary Cuban piano music with great precision and feeling, such as compositions by Aldo López Gavilán, Andrés Alén, José Maria Vitier y Ernán López-Nussa for piano and percussion. They present the traditional and popular Cuban music styles and fuse them with influences from world music.
Some of the works leave space for improvisation, which the two musicians use with creative enthusiasm.
The duo has played live in Cuba, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, France and Greece. Its first album “Rapsodia Cubana” was released by Naxos World Music in January 2021.
“Magical, authentic, touching – Yamilé Cruz Montero and Christos Asonitis play Cuban music.”
(The New Listener, May 2016)
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