PRISM Quartet with Miguel Zenón – World Premiere of El Eco del Tambor

The all-sax PRISM Quartet joins forces with the Grammy Award-winning composer/saxophonist, MacArthur Fellow, and long-time collaborator Miguel Zenón for the world premiere of Zenón’s newest work, El Eco del Tambor (The Echo of the Drum).

Zenón writes, “El Eco del Tambor is an extended, multi-movement saxophone quintet that draws on rhythmic traditions from around the globe, focusing specifically on drumming from West Africa and its extension into Afro-Caribbean music. The title is an allusion to both the percussive elements within the piece and to the idea of music as an ancient language that is in constant evolution.”

The program also includes Zenón’s Clemente (after Roberto Clemente), and two additional sax quintets by Zenón that he arranged just for PRISM: The Missing Piece (from Heritage/Evolution, Vol. 1) and Camarón. The original versions of both pieces are on Zenon’s highly acclaimed 2008 album, Awake.

Also featured is Forbidden Drive (from Heritage/Evolution, Vol. 2) by PRISM’s resident composer Matthew Levy, Levy’s arrangement of the Sondheim classic Send in the Clowns (upon hearing it, Sondheim himself declared, “I love it”) and selections from Melissa Aldana’s Reflections. Clowns and Reflections both appear on PRISM’s 2024 album, Heritage/Evolution, Vol. 3.