Ernesto Diaz-Infante

Ernesto Diaz-Infante and Rotcod Zzaj: Sirius Intrigues

by Todd S. Jenkins
February 21, 2003

Futuristic free music from the Bay Area. A member of W.O.O. Revelator and The Abstractions, Ernesto Diaz-Infante is one of San Francisco’s most promising young improvisers. Rotcod Zzaj (you figure it out), aka Dick Metcalf, is a veteran experimenter and head of Zzaj Productions. They explore a wide variety of soundscapes and textures on this blissfully noisy and utterly fascinating release.

On occasion Diaz-Infante is reminiscent of fellow Bay resident Henry Kaiser, avoiding all hints of melody in favor of ...

Ernesto Diaz-Infante & Chris Forsyth: Wires and Wooden Boxes

by Glenn Astarita
August 1, 2001

Multi-instrumentalist, Ernesto Diaz-Infante is apt to tackle either minimalist style themes, brimming with melodic frameworks and lush voicings or engage in John Cage-like musings with free-improvisational guitarist, Chris Forsyth. With their second collaboration, this 2001 release features more of the somewhat alien discourses witnessed on the duo’s previous effort, “Left & Right.” On the opener “NYC Journal excerpt (2000), Forsyth utilizes his electric guitar power cord and input jack as a vehicle to inject grounding hum and static into a ...

Ernesto Diaz-Infante: Solus

by Mark Corroto
November 1, 2000

Wandering minds might want to know. Pondering souls can take comfort, as meditation on sound confers solace. As abstract as Ernesto Diaz-Infante’s Solus is, it never displays perplexity, invasion, or ire. The San Francisco based composer plays solo piano on thirteen individually numbered improvisations that eschew swing for an internal rhythm not apparent on first listen. Diaz-Infante’s two-handed approach stops/starts, employs silence, clusters, and the ping-pong plunks of exploration.

Unlike the call-and-response of his recent recording with Jeff Kaiser Pith ...

Ernesto Diaz-Infante: Solus

by Glenn Astarita
May 1, 2000

Some might ask, what California based pianist-guitarist-composer Ernesto Diaz-Infante will do next? Whether utilizing the prepared acoustic guitar witnessed on the outlandish Left & Right featuring electric guitarist Chris Forsyth or open-ended/minimalist style solo acoustic piano performances on Ucross Journal, Infante at times parallels 20th Century composers such as John Cage and Morton Feldman.

On Solus, Infante turns in 13 pieces performed solely on acoustic piano that represent quite a contrast to the simply stated and somewhat hypnotic themes he ...

Ernesto Diaz-Infante: Ucross Journal

by Glenn Astarita
January 1, 2000

Pianist Ernesto Diaz-Infante composed these 25 short pieces while he was an artist in residence at the “Ucross Foundation Ranch” located in Wyoming. On Ucross Journal, Diaz-Infante creates briefly stated tone poems while utilizing space and depth to his advantage, as he indicates in the liners: “A strong sense of location and the influence of a particular setting are vital to my work”. Throughout, these pieces are interwoven and somewhat contiguous as vivid imagery of the beautiful Wyoming landscape is ...

Ernesto Diaz-Infante: Ucross Journal

by Jim Santella
November 1, 1999

It’s an interesting concept. Let the piano chords paint images for you and ignore most of the other elements that make music what it is. Tonal relationships offer impressions. Most of us agree on the various moods that can be portrayed. A happy-go-lucky stroll through daisy-covered fields? No problem. The impending violence that issues from a demonic winter storm? Easy.

Ernesto Diaz-Infante’s latest album follows the pattern of his itz’at in that he provides only sustained piano chords throughout the ...

Ernesto Diaz-Infante: Tepeu

by Jim Santella
September 1, 1998

Improvised solo piano musings from gifted artist Ernesto Diaz-Infante allow the listener to share in the creative process. His two albums itz'at and Tepeu both serve to demonstrate the improviser's creative process from start to finish. Diaz-Infante begins with vague thematic material and molds it, through his choices of harmony and melody, into an image “suitable for framing." The pianist earned his master's in composition from CalArts in Southern California, studying with free and creative instructors that included trumpeter Wadada ...

Ernesto Diaz-Infante & Chris Forsyth release "march" on Drimala

Source: All About Jazz
September 1, 2002

New compositions for electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, vocals and drums

Ernesto Diaz-Infante and Chris Forsyth have a longstanding duo collaboration that now includes three releases, many performances, a European tour, and a major upcoming American tour. Their third duo release, march, was recorded in Brooklyn, NY following their three week European tour in early 2002. This recording is a document of the concepts they honed together during numerous performances, train rides, conversations, and through collaborations with other musicians they ...
read more