Jazz guitarist and Jamaica Plain resident John Stein has released his 12th album, a tango-infused jazz album called “Emotion.”
While he usually keeps to acoustic “mainstream” jazz, for this release he found an unexpected partner in drummer Matias Mingote German, an Argentine who lives in Spain.
“It’s a jazz record with a lot of tango grooves,” Stein said of the album. “There’s this world music flavor.”
A departure from his quieter, almost “chamber music” jazz, “Emotion” blends Stein’s and German’s inputs to create a “cross-fertilization,” Stein said.
Stein fell in love with music because of Brazilian bossa nova, itself a style of music first inspired by jazz, he told the Gazette.
“It all started when I was a little kid. My first experience of jazz music was this record of Tom Jobim and João Gilberto. They were the people who created that [bossa nova] music. They were taking so much from jazz,” Stein said.
The collaboration for “Emotion” was challenging, Stein said, as jazz is usually improvisational in nature.
“It’s all improvised. Everyone has to listen very closely to everyone else,” he explained.
For “Emotion,” Stein depended on German for a structure that he and the other musicians could improvise a melody around, he explained.
“I’m not a tango expert. I depended on him [German] to make sure they [the beats] were authentic,” Stein said. “He’s a wonderful musician. We’re so lucky it turned out well.”
Stein is scheduled for an acoustic performance at Tres Gatos at 470 Centre St. on March 3 at 9 p.m. He expects “Emotion” to be available for sale there by that date, he said.
“Emotion” by John Stein & The Mingotan Project. (Courtesy Image)