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Mino Cinelu

Master percussionist/composer/singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Mino Cinelu's first solo album has been a long time coming. It's been 20 years, to be exact.

Mino Cinelu, his self-titled debut on Blue Thumb Records, has certainly been worth the long wait. The album is a musical journey into the mind and heart of an internationally-respected performer. The short list of artists who have called on Cinelu for their tours and records features a number of major stars from the worlds of jazz and pop, including: Miles Davis, Weather Report, Sting, Cassandra Wilson, Lou Reed, Geri Allen, David Sanborn, Dizzy Gillespie, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, Branford Marsalis, Tori Amos, Bruce Springsteen, Christian McBride, Tracy Chapman, Stevie Wonder, and Bonnie Raitt.

To call this project a solo album is almost literal: Cinelu was joined in the studio by only two musicians American guitarist Mitch Stein and Cameroon bassist Richard Bona. Additionally, Cinelu produced, wrote, composed, programmed, and arranged the album. He also sang lead and most backing vocals; played acoustic and electric guitars, banchi, bandoneon, slide guitar, e-bow electric guitar, flute, drums, percussion; and created sound effects. What the listener hears here is pure Mino his music, his hands, his soul. "This is the first time it's truly my baby," he said.

On Mino Cinelu, you can feel his relationship with the instruments one that is physical, almost sensual. You can also sense the artist's pulse beating within him it's unique, with a swing that is both earthy and soaring at the same time.

Mino Cinelu is reason to celebrate that which is good in music soft and dense, uplifting and vibrant, all song, life, and dance. It's all there in Cinelu's unified, yet wonderfully-varied compositions. From the the insistent, tribal "Moun Madinina," "Why Not," and "On Coming Horizons" to the soft pop beauty of "Confians," "Namonale," "Soon I Will Be Home," and "See Yea Salee Yea," Mino Cinelu gives the world its first chance to experience the solo creations of this masterful artist. The Eastern-flavored "Shibumi Dunes"; the acoustic guitar-driven ballad "Petit Prince"; and the Afro-jazz stretch of "Will O The Wisp" round out the album and help to display Cinelu's inspiring musical agility.

Born in Saint-Cloud, France in 1957, the French-Caribbean Cinelu played guitar when he was a child, calling it his "first love." As a youth, he visited his father's homeland of Martinique and absorbed the island's chouval bwa music with its unique rhythms. He started playing drums as a teenager, forming his own funk-fusion band, and he also picked up percussion. He devoured his father's Afro-Cuban records, which led to his interesting playing style. "I didn't at that time know that there was more than one percussion player playing," he told Rhythm magazine. "So I tried to re-create those rhythms by myself, and I developed a weird technique." He lived in England for a year, and eventually moved to America, where he quickly hooked up with Miles Davis and began his international career. He has since been in high demand from performers of all genres.

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Album Review

Somi: Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba

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Il legame musicale e simbolico con l'Africa resta centrale nella produzione artistica di Somi, la vocalist e cantautrice statunitense dai genitori africani giunta al successo con gli album The Lagos Music Saloon e Holy Room. Il suo nuovo progetto è dedicato a Miriam Makeba, che avrebbe compiuto 90 anni il 4 marzo, data di pubblicazione del presente album. I brani in scaletta, tutti presi dallo storico repertorio della cantante, sono condivisi col musical Dreaming Zenzile, che Somi ...

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Recording

Guitarist/Composer David Gilmore Releases "Numerology" "Live at the Ja77 Standard" Featuring David Gilmore with Claudia Acua A, Miguel Zenon, Luis Perdomo, Christian McBride, Jeff "Tain" Watts and Mino Cinelu

Guitarist/Composer David Gilmore Releases "Numerology" "Live at the Ja77 Standard" Featuring David Gilmore with Claudia Acua A, Miguel Zenon, Luis Perdomo, Christian McBride, Jeff "Tain" Watts and Mino Cinelu

Source: Two for the Show Media

Numerology Suite is musical exploration into the mystical, divine, and spiritual meaning of numbers, which reflect the creation of the Universe and the underlying structure upon which the material world is built. Music is the language of the Universe, and the elements of music - harmony, melody and rhythm, are all expressions of number. Pythagoras, the father of mathematics, taught that the numbers one through nine represent the universal principles and progressive cycles in life. Here David Gilmore invites the ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Sensual

Self Produced
2025

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Zenzile: The...

Self Produced
2022

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Resilience

Soul Cycle Music
2020

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Quest Journey

Universal Music Jazz France
2002

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Mino Cinelu

Universal Music Jazz France
2000

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Confians

Universal Music Jazz France
1999

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Resilience

From: Resilience
By Mino Cinelu

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