Pianist, composer, humanitarian and activist Danilo Pérez believes that a united global perspective for the arts and social justice are the keys to moving humanity forward in harmony. With Crisálida, Perez has convened his Global Messengers — former Berklee College of Music students hailing from Palestine, Greece, Iraq, Jordan and the United States — to contribute their respective cultural learnings and personal experiences with the goal of building community through music, without borders.
History will reveal Crisálida yet another one of Pérez's crowning achievements. Now after four decades as a professional musician, some of which has been spent with the world-acclaimed Wayne Shorter Quartet and leading his own projects, Pérez has now achieved living legend status. Most recently, he won the prestigious 2021 Doris Duke Artist Award of $250,000.
The album features two gripping suites – the album’s four-part “La Muralla (Glass Walls) Suite” in first half, and the four-part “Fronteras (Borders) Suite” in the second. with the newly formed Global Messengers, consisting of alumni from Berklee College of Music’s Global Jazz Institute. Like Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra, which helped launched Pérez’s international career, the Global Messengers is a multicultural combo that features percussionist Tareq Rantisi (Palestine), laouto player Vasilis Kostas (Greece), violinist and vocalist Layth Sidiq (Iraq, Jordan), cellist Naseem Alatrash (Palestine) and singer Farayi Malek (United States). Guest appearing on several cuts are batá drummer Román Diaz (Cuba), Ney flutist Faris Ishaq (Palestine), Zárate (Chile), singer Eirini Tornesaki (Greece) and the Kalesma Children’s Choir of The Ark of the World (Kivotos tou Kosmou) (based in Greece).
The “La Muralla (Glass Walls) Suite” begins in tranquil fashion with the gorgeous “Rise from Love,” which features uplifting vocals from Malek along with Kalesma Children’s Choir of The Ark of the World. Pérez’s suspenseful piano improvisation changes the tenor of the tune along with Diaz’s surging batá rhythms, as stirring, lively strings ebb and flow, symbolizing Africa’s arrival to the Western world and worldwide influence on music. The Greek instrument, laouto, played by Kostas, engages with Perez in the opening to “Monopatia(Pathways)” before we gradually hear the strings as well as Zárate’s arresting spoken-word and Tornesaki’s poignant singing connecting in just one piece, representative music from Middle East and the Mediterranean as well African and Latin American strains.
“I envision Crisálida as a protected space where we all come together, whether we’re addressing immigration issues, climate change, environmental justice, science, interconnecting different art forms,” Pérez explains. “We need to work together to build our new crisálida, which, to me, is the emotional, mental and physical state of protection in our early development.”
Crisálida is composed of two engrossing suites on which he leads the Global Messengers, an intrepid new ensemble, consisting of alumni from Berklee College of Music’s Global Jazz Institute. Similar to Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra, which helped launch Pérez’s international career, the Global Messengers is a multicultural combo that features percussionist Tareq Rantisi (Palestine), laouto player Vasilis Kostas (Greece), violinist and vocalist Layth Sidiq (Iraq, Jordan), cellist Naseem Alatrash (Palestine) and singer Farayi Malek (United States). Guest appearing on several cuts are batá drummer Román Diaz (Cuba), Ney flutist Faris Ishaq (Palestine), Zárate (Chile), singer Eirini Tornesaki (Greece) and the Kalesma Children’s Choir of The Ark of the World (Kivotos tou Kosmou) (based in Greece).
“These musicians are very interested in cultivating their gifts to become role models for the betterment of humanity. I love this openness of wanting to explore and connect,” says Pérez, who in addition to being the founder of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, is a UNESCO Artist for Peace, the Cultural Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, and the Founder and Artistic Director of the Panama Jazz Festival.
“In the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, we talk a lot about finding new sounds through the blues and connecting to your roots – expanding the folkloric elements of where you come from,” he adds. “The Global Messengers are a new family that explores the power of music as a tool for inter-cultural dialogue.” With their intriguing, unconventional instrumentation (to jazz standards), the Global Messengers afford the music with an arabesque, “beyond category” quality that alludes to chamber music, cinematic score and, of course, the sparkling improvisation associated with jazz. The album’s four-part “La Muralla (Glass Walls) Suite” occupies the first half, while the four-part “Fronteras (Borders) Suite” concludes the program.
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