Born: September 10, 1957 Primary Instrument: Piano
PEDRO MENENDEZ is a brilliant composer and multi- instrumentalist. Wellknown as a pioneering of the Avant Garde fusion sytle in Argentina, Menendez s music is a personal blend of Latin American folk rythms (Tango, Chacarera, Candombe, Bossa Nova), Jazz and Contemporary Classical elements. As a bold creator, Menendez definitely proposes a different South American concept. Melodies are unique, lyric and complex. Pieces are rich on harmonic modulations and elaborated counterpoints. Traditional local rythms are reinterpreted on prolific polirythms variations, irregular meters and a varied elaborated instrumentation. As a virtuous multi-instrumentalist, Menendez changes from the Piano to the Guitar, Flute, Soprano Sax or Bandoneon with dazzling ability.
“COLECCIONISMO -ANTHOLOGY” is a new selected compilation that brings together some of the best pieces of Menendez�'s vast discography and is part of the repertoire that the Argentinian musician has been performing throughout a long impressive national and international career destined to keep growing: Argentina, Brazil, North America and Europe.
ABOUT PEDRO MENENDEZ BIOGRAPHY:
Pedro Menendez was born in Buenos Aires in 1957.
He has been dedicated to the music since he was 7 years old. He studied with professors like the worldwide known Oscar Aleman (Josephine Baker's jazz guitarist), Arturo Schneider (Astor Piazzolla�'s flutist) and the contemporary classical guitarist Miguel Angel Girollet, among others. He also attended the composition career at the UCA.
He has recorded 17 discographic works with compositions of his own with the participation of well-known musicians like Osvaldo Fattoruso on drums (latin jazz Band 'Opa'), Rodolfo Mederos & Marcelo Nissinman on bandoneon, percussionist Rubén Rada, musicians from the Colón Theatre orchestra, among others.
He has performed internationally in US, Canada, Norway, Germany, Spain, France and Brazil, including SXSW Music Festival 2011-2010-2009-2008, (Austin, TX, USA), CANADIAN MUSIC FEST 2011-2009 (Toronto, ON, Canada), FESTIVAL DE INVERNO SESC RIO 2008 (Petrópolis, Teresópolis, Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), among the most recent shows.
Troughout his career he has played on numerous local artistic, cultural venues and festivals, including “Buenos Aires Jazz & other Musics” International Festival, “Mar del Jazz” Festival, Centro Nacional de Música, Casa del Fondo Nacional de la Cultura, Auditorio del Pilar - Recoleta, Avenida Theater, among many others.
He has also performed as sessionist together with many other distinguished musicians of the Argentinian scene, like Luis Salinas, Agustin Pereyra Lucena, Guillermo Reuter (2004 SGAE Award), Daniel 'Pipi' Piazzolla, Bossa N�'Stones, etc.
In the field of contemporary chamber music, he has written several pieces including a concert for Vibraphone and Strings dedicated to the Argentinian Soloist Daniel Serale (premiered on the International Percussion Festival of Patagonia, Argentina, 2006), a concert for Marimba dedicated to the Mexican well-known Soloist Javier Nandayapa, a work of 20 pieces for Piano based on Latin American rythms (‘Viaje por Latinoamérica’/Voyage through Latin America’ Book I / Book II) and a concert for Guitar and Orchestra.
He has composed incidental music for television, theatre and cinema (Argentina and the Munich School of Cinema).
Since 1986 he is the Artistic Director of Contemporaneo Art Music, an Argentinian Record Label dedicated to genres as tango, jazz, crossover, folk, world and contemporary classical music (www.contemporaneomusic.com)
Todd S. Jenkins - All about jazz.com “Wonderfully sensual evocations from South America. Pedro Menendez is a multi-instrumentalist from Argentina who has a fresh ear for blending the sounds of different musics... Recommended.”
John Doll - Jazzreview.com “His music is a whirlwind of the influences ranging from Brazilian bossa nova, contemporary classical, tango, Argentinian folk, and American jazz. The music is like a gentle breeze on an otherwise warm still night in a warm country very much like Argentina. Its rhythms are graceful. It sways more than it swings. Menendez tends to remain understated in making his point... As is the rest of the album, it is simple and wise, graceful and heartfelt.”
Bernardo Nudelman - Musicargentina.com France ”It is much more than pleasant, it is comforting that musicians, registered in the dynamics and the history of the tango, did not cease enriching it... Pedro Menéndez enters the tango. It visits it and revisits it. Respects and renovates it. Its leg jazz touches the matter tango. Symbiosis is successful, excellent interpretation...”
Contemporaneo Art Music
2010
America Solar
Contemporaneo Art Music
2008
Arquitectura Tango
Contemporaneo Art Music
2006
Profundidad
Contemporaneo Art Music
2005
Mi Buenos Aires Herido
Contemporaneo Art Music
2003
Secretos de la Guitarra
Contemporaneo Art Music
2002
Luna
Contemporaneo Art Music
1999
Viaje por Latinoamerica
Contemporaneo Art Music
1993
Cantos Secretos
Contemporaneo Art Music
1989
Nuevos Caminos
Contemporaneo Art Music
1986
Capoeira
Contemporaneo Art Music
1984
Hora del Eclipse
Contemporaneo Art Music
1983
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