EDMAR CASTANEDA

07.04.08 | New York Times Review ,
ONE HARP, MANY LANGUAGES
By BEN RATLIFF
Published: July 4, 2008
Edmar Castañeda is a virtuoso, and a modern jazz musician in that he collects different musical languages of the New World and melts them together, fusing them with swing and improvisation. But he also does the same thing with instrumental approaches: he borrows the technique and sound of several other instruments and applies them to his own, which is a harp. He can turn a harp into a bass, a guitar, a piano and a hand drum. Of course, that's not meant literally, but it's not meant metaphorically either.

Mr. Castañeda, now based in New York City, comes from Bogotá, Colombia, and his instrument is specifically the arpa llanero, used in joropo, the music of the plains of Colombia and Venezuela. It's midsize and wooden framed, with 32 strings, and at the Jazz Standard on Wednesday he had it amplified with electronic pickups -- one for the bass range, one for the rest, with the wires connected to two different amplifiers. He leads an unusual trio: harp, trombone (Marshall Gilkes) and drums (David Silliman). But then, any jazz group led by a harpist would be unusual.

The papery sonority of a delicate string instrument smartly contrasts with the fuller punch of a big wind instrument. The drums are there to remind you that harp-based joropo, as well as jazz, is driving and polyrhythmic.

In originals like ''Cuarto de Colores'' and Mr. Gilkes's ''Looking Forward,'' the group moved around among Latin languages -- flamenco, samba, Afro-Cuban grooves and 6/8 Colombian rhythm. Mr. Castañeda has created his own vocabulary for his instrument, and it's as curious to the eyes as it is to the ears. He slapped the strings for percussion or smashed out a chord like a flamenco guitarist; cupped his hands and brushed them by the strings in a cycling motion; bent a note by plucking a string, then pushing it at the bottom with his thumb; counterposed melodic hummingbird solos picked by one hand with bass lines picked by the other.

This was music with a prominent low end, and he had boosted the bass amplifier for that purpose. It's confusing at first: you wonder where the bass player is, then you see that it's the harpist's left hand.

Mr. Castañeda has been playing gigs around town for the last four years or so, and as is the case with a lot of young virtuosos, his live sets can have a frustratingly airtight feeling; as he pours out the fast notes, his musicality represents an evenly perfected system. He makes those notes swing hard and feeds them through different rhythms and different effects boxes -- a wah-wah, a chorus -- but it all could use a little more strangeness, more vulnerability, perhaps through greater spontaneity and different kinds of group interaction.

The set's last song, a version of the jazz standard ''Autumn Leaves,'' headed toward that direction, with Mr. Castañeda and the impressive Mr. Gilkes merging their solos, playing fluid lines with great jumps in pitch, shifting abruptly from soft to loud.

05.30.08 | DAILY GAZETTE / SARATOGA CONCERT
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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Wait: Where’s the bass player? Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda was on stage at the Spa Little Theatre on Thursday with drummer Dave Silliman, flute player Itai Kriss, and guest Joe Locke at the vibraphone. Each played conventional-sounding parts in their Return to Forever-like vamp-and-solos starter “Room of Colors.”
But under their tight weave was a booming bass line — that a closer examination revealed to be exploding from the low strings of Castaneda’s harp, while he zipped through a solo on the high strings that sounded like a roomful of acoustic guitars.
When he introduced Silliman as “the man with four hands,” he could have been speaking of himself, a musician of dexterity beyond description. Pianists must play in two beats and two melodies at once, but Castaneda displays such a high degree of this skill that he moves the music of different traditions through each other.
Castaneda blended folk styles of the Colombian plains with a deeply romantic passion in “Three Thirds,” both more Latin and more jazzy than their opener. Kriss and Locke tossed the melody back and forth in a spiral; then Castaneda charged in and trumped them both.
Kriss mimed trying to count Castaneda’s blinding beats, but grinned and gave up. Castaneda started this outrageous solo with a damped-string technique for percussive effect, but later let the strings ring free as he summoned his bandmates into a joyful recap.
The damped-strings thing, like James Brown’s guitarist Jimmy Nolen’s trick of killing the sustain of the notes with his hand, was just one Castaneda strategy to avoid obvious harp-isms; the splashy glissandos that many close-together strings allow. He also bent the body of the harp after striking notes or chords, changing the pitch; and plucked notes and retouched then when they were still resounding to similar effect.
These never felt like tricks because he emphasized emotion more than technique, especially in the solo numbers. “Hope,” inspired by a film about the sale of children as slaves, expressed both outrage and solace, while the fervent “Jesus of Nazareth” painted a portrait of a benign savior, flowing from a fast, light intro into substantial counterpoint with sparse, strong bass lines, fullest realization all night of his dazzling technique and depth.
Feeling also infused even the band’s formalist experiments: a free-improvisation Joe Locke led into the stratosphere, and a flute exploration that Kriss mutated through intriguing steps into “Autumn Leaves.”
Locke and Kriss often linked their riffs, or ping-ponged them, while Castaneda and Silliman combined to supply powerful rhythmic structure, which Locke and Kriss ably followed. All the players were first-class and fully unified in Castaneda’s vision — even the initially invisible bass player — producing an impressive evening of ensemble brilliance and sizzling or tender solos.

By MICHAEL HOCHANADEL

01.30.08 | - OF THE WEEK
I couldn't make the early set, but I've been wanting to check out Edmar Castaneda for a while after getting repeated recommendations of the "you've got to see this guy!" variety from the same folks who brought you my obsession with the Bad Plus and "we're driving to Hampton for Panic, giddy-up!" So, I got my butt in gear and made it to the Jazz Standard for his late set. I'm not sure I've ever been to JS after having already eaten dinner and let me tell you it was tough. I walked in with stomach full and the minute I got a whiff of that smoky Blue Smoke aroma, I was instantly famished once again. It took all I had to hold off ordering a rack of ribs and a cheeseburger, but I did go for some pie just to keep my stomach gurgling from overtaking the music.

Castaneda is a Columbian harp player -- he is both from Columbia and apparently the instrument he plays is called the "Columbian harp. Anyway, he looks like he's about 12 and plays something fierce. A couple weeks back when watching Lewis & Clark open for Benevento I joked that I was predicting a big year for the harp in 2008. Unfortunately for all the wannabes out there, Edmar Castaneda probably has them all beat. There is something naked and pure about the instrument itself, like a piano has been stripped of all its clothing... or alternatively, a guitar has mutated into something unrecognizable. Castaneda has an intimate relationship with his instrument, his fingers dance over the strings: shuffle, boogie woogie and ballet, there is an amazing combination of grace and power. The resulting sound is exotic and comfortable, disorienting (how is he making those sounds?) and exhilarating. With his body taking over his harp like he's curling up in bed with a lover, he manipulates the strings and makes some fantastic music.

The quartet was one of the stranger mixtures of players you'll find. Joining him on the vibraphone was Joe Locke who wore a necktie around his bare neck and there was Marshall Gilkes on trombone and David Sillman on a stripped-down drums/percussion set-up. Are the harp, vibes and trombone the elements of good music? Good question. For the most part, Castaneda as band leader did a good job corralling the tangential sounds of his ensemble and made great music. With Locke on one side and Edmar on the other, there was a otherworldly quality to the sound. There were solos for everyone in each tune, but within each number there were ample stretches of improvisation: dreamy interludes where the harp ducked down deep in the sound and got hypnotically subtle. Edmar's playing is of the master class level: bass notes and melody and rhythm all bundled up in an ear-pleasing tone. Watching him play is to watch someone entranced by their own talent; eyes closed, mouth pursed as if kissing the notes as they come off his fingers, it is as if he would crawl in between the strings and feel the vibrations directly if he could.

The music is a kind of Latin-infused straight jazz. They played exclusively originals as well as some traditional Columbian music that Castaneda has rearranged with some improvisational sections. The compositions were good, but it was the band that made them worthwhile. And while Castaneda on his own was worth the price of admission, it was the addition of Joe Locke's vibraphone that brought things up that extra smidge. Locke was perfectly in tune with Castaneda, working him back and forth and taking wonderful leads on his own. One tune opened with a long intro on the vibes which drifted into a familiar sounding riff... at last I recognized it: Neil Young's "Ohio." If you're wondering if that can be made to sound good on the vibes, the answer is a resounding yes. Good times, the pie was decent. I highly recommend Edmar Castaneda who seems to play regularly in the city.

01.23.08 | GLOBAL RHYTHM MAGAZINE
Since 1994, Edmar Casteneda has been dazzling New York City audiences with his Peruvian harp playing, often providing melody, lead and rhythm in one fell swoop.

Extending from the foothills of the Andes mountain range in eastern Colombia, the plains of Los Llanos are home to a genre called musica llanera (plains music). More than two centuries ago, the Spanish introduced the harp to this cowboy culture, and it somehow became the percussion backbone to their musical and dance traditions. Now, Colombian harp prodigy Edmar Castaneda has taken the instrument even further by redefining its place in modern jazz music.

The harp first inspired Castaneda at age 7, when he began performing the popular joropo dance, which is dominated by the music of the Colombian harp. After he turned 13, he decided to learn how to play the difficult instrument, and enlisted the help of friends and local musicians.

In 1994, Castaneda moved to New York, where he started a regular restaurant gig on Long Island that would help shape his original style. “That was my school of harp,” he explains. “I played solo interpretations of international music, so I was looking for ways to play all the parts of songs without a band. I figured out that the harp can make two instrument sounds in one.” Playing heavy bass lines with his left hand and picking melodies (and improvising solos) with his right, Castaneda creates a rhythmic pulse that surges with a bright, flamenco-like sound.

Although the harp is most often played in classical or folk settings, Castaneda’s unique style quickly drew acclaim on the international jazz scene. Jazz legends Nelson Gonzalez and John Scofield recruited him for live dates, and Czech-born singer Marta Topferova has worked with him in folk settings. Meanwhile, Grammy-award winning saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera took Castaneda under his wing. “Paquito has been a great inspiration and help for me in my career,” Castaneda says. “It’s fun playing with him and he is always teaching me something new.”

Castaneda’s explosive live show has recently expanded to a trio with trombonist Marshall Gilkes and percussionist David Silliman (Castaneda’s wife, Colombian singer Andrea Tierra, often sits in). After performing at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and on the European festival circuit, the group embarked on their first tour across Colombia. “The people at home here have received us so well,” Castaneda says warmly. “It’s very exciting to finally be playing my own country.”

By Paul Dryden

Published January 23, 2008

12.04.07 | Boston Herald Review

"Rising star Castaneda has become a one-man musical wrecking crew, demolishing preconceptions about whether there’s even a place in jazz for the instrument."
By Bob Young

11.14.07 | philadelphia weekly

Jazz is American in origin, but it’s been international right from the jump, reliant on creative juice from Africa, the Caribbean, South America and just about everywhere else. Bogotá-born Edmar Castaneda is one of a number of young Latin jazz musicians writing the next chapter; others include Dafnis Prieto (Cuba), Luis Perdomo (Venezuela), Miguel Zenón (Puerto Rico) and Danilo Perez (Panama).

But Castaneda stands out in the field: He’s the first to develop a jazz vocabulary on the Colombian harp, an instrument previously unknown to the idiom. (Deborah Henson-Conant has played jazz on an amplified European harp but isn’t exclusively a jazz musician.)

Standing upright behind the midsized apparatus which he leans against one shoulder, Castaneda summons rippling harmony and melody with his right hand and propulsive basslines with his left. No, he’s not a one-man band. He’s practically a one-man orchestra, the Hendrix—or at least the Charlie Hunter—of the harp, linking a train of complex and richly textured sound to a locomotive of hot pan-American rhythm.

Castaneda often performs solo and duo, but this week at the Art Museum he’ll appear with Marshall Gilkes on trombone, Dave Silliman on percussion and Andrea Tierra (his wife), a gutsy contralto originally from Medellín, on vocals. They’ll be drawing on repertoire from Castaneda’s 2005 self-released debut Cuarto de Colores and a new as-yet-untitled disc due out in January featuring special guest John Scofield.

The music is suffused with jazz harmony, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban rhythms and traces of música llanera, the dance and folk vernacular of the Colombian plains. “It’s all in 6/8 time like a fast waltz, and you improvise in a percussive way,” Castaneda says of the local music he learned as a youth.

by David Adler

08.30.07 | READEXPRESS by Christopher Porter
THE COLOMBIAN HARP is a delicate-sounding folk instrument, but it's not cut out for jazz:
"It's like the piano, but I only have the white keys," said Edmar Castaneda. "It's diatonic, not chromatic."
But Castaneda is not only making the Colombian harp work in jazz settings — he's the only one doing it.
The lack of chromatic options is the reason "why a lot of people don't try to do more with the instrument," Castaneda said. "I know its limits. … You do sharps by bending the strings, and you can tune the harp in modes. Little tricks."
Some of Castaneda's little tricks also include mixing Brazilian and flamenco music with funk and South American folk to create a world-jazz sound that is as distinct as it is crowd-wowing. He also plays bass lines with one hand while plucking out melodies with the other, which is one of the reasons why Castenada only has two other instrumentalists in his band: trombonist Marshall Gilkes and percussionist Dave Silliman. (Castaneda's wife, Andrea Tierra, provides vocals.)
The harpist has been inciting a lot of buzz in the jazz world, and one of Castaneda's biggest champions is saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera. "Besides been extremely charismatic, Edmar has a wider musical vision than most of his colleagues playing such a limited instrument," he said. "He also has always the right attitude toward the music business."
It's the sort of attitude that might lead a musician to play a form of music that's technically all but impossible on the Colombian harp.
"I just imagine if I had all notes," Castaneda said. "Wow!"

08.03.07 | BLOOMBERG NEWS
The Schmitt group referenced Django's love for American jazz and swing with an exuberant Gershwin pairing, ``Someone Who'll Watch Over Me'' and ``I Got Rhythm.'' Toward the end of the set they brought on the evening's chief surprise, Colombian jazz harpist Edmar Castaneda, who made a more than convincing case for the harp as a jazz instrument. He was simply astonishing.

08.01.07 | robertaonthearts
Edmar Castaneda, who plays gypsy jazz harp to surreal proportions. He has Latin flair, and his fresh fusion with the violin and accordion was exceptionally unique. Edmar was visibly excited to be participating in this NY summer tradition, and his harp strings literally flew “en air”

07.28.07 | lowellfolkfestival
Los Llanos, the broad plains of eastern Colombia watered by the Orinoco River and its tributaries are home tomúsica llanera (literally, “plains music”), the engaging musical traditions created by ranching people with a love for cattle, horses, music and dance.
The main instrument of llanera music is perhaps an unexpected one–the harp. Introduced to South America in the 18 th century by the Spanish, in the hands of thellanero, or plains cowboy, the harp became a percussive dynamo that serves as the backbone of música llanera.
Like the original players of his Colombian homeland, harp virtuoso Edmar Castaneda has taken the instrument in new directions. Castaneda fell in love with the harp as a young child while watching the instrument accompany traditional dancers. He recalls, " I was mesmerized by the strings. There were so many of them." Castaneda eventually took up playing the harp, learning through friends and watching local masters.
"I think God had a plan for me with this instrument because I never really had a formal teacher."
Upon arriving in the New York area in 1995, Edmar’s application of llanero harp techniques to jazz created a sensation. Now 28, Castaneda has made a name for himself performing with jazz legends such as Paquito D'Rivera, Nelson Gonzalez and John Scofield.
His playing has been described as anywhere from "ferocious" to "intoxicating" to "inconceivable." Recently, he has been focusing on his own trio, which incorporates the sounds of his homeland into unique jazz stylings.
At the 2007 Lowell Folk Festival, Edmar will dig deep into his roots, performing the Colombian llanera music he learned while growing up in Bogotá, Colombia. Joining him is his talented wife, Andrea Tierra, on vocals. Growing up in Medellin, Colombia, Andrea began singing traditional Colombian music at age 12. Since moving to New York City in 2000, she has pursued a musical career, performing traditional Colombian songs as well as jazz and her own compositions around the country. Percussionist Ben Sillimanwill round
out the trio.

07.08.07 | SEMANA colombia

04.25.07 | NEW YORK POST
Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda, one of the hottest jazz artists on the scene, is set to open for D’Rivera with his own version of a trio featuring his harp, a trombone and drums.
D’Rivera has jokingly said that he always regrets letting the folk-artist open for him because the 29-year old always manages to steal the show.

03.14.07 | New York Post iterview by Javier L. orellana
When Edmar Castaneda gets behind his beloved harp you may not see him - but you'll definitely hear him and leave with a new appreciation of the rare folk instrument.
The 28-year-old Queens-raised Colombian, who burst onto the scene when he played with Cuban sax player and Grammy winner Paquito D'Rivera at the Beacon Theater in 2001, has jazz fans buzzing.
At 5'6” he is barely taller than his instrument - the arpa llanera - but his ferocious style so moves audiences that D'Rivera says he doesn't know why he invites him along. “He always steals my show,” Paquito laughs.
The Bogotá native was first introduced to the instrument in folkloric dance classes that his mom enrolled him in.
“I was mesmerized by the strings,” he recalls. “There were so many of them.”
People expect the harp to be soft, but when Castaneda plucks the strings, it's anything but. His repertoire includes Latin jazz, mambo, rumba, samba and Afro-Caribbean beats.
His first full-time gig was playing background music in 1996 at Meson Olé, a Spanish restaurant in South Hampton, Long Island. His big break came several years later at a descarga (jam session) hosted by renowned tres player Nelson Gonzalez.
“I approached Nelson and asked if I could play with him. He said, 'Sure, what instrument do you play?' I said the harp and he said 'Harp?! Don't you play anything smaller?'”
He remembers asking Gonzalez to let him show what he had and if he didn't like it, he could kick him off the stage.
“It was incredible, people loved it and asked for more,” he says.
Lately, Castaneda has become to the harp what virtuoso Yomo Toro is to the cuatro. And just like Toro, what and how he plays his instrument is what makes him extraordinary. He carries both the melody and bass.
“I think God had a plan for me with this instrument because I never really had a formal teacher, I learned from friends, books, and pretty much taught myself,” he says.

02.17.07 | periódico cultural Arcadia
Un hombre con atributos

por Lorenzo Morales, periodista

Edmar Castañeda tiene la garra de un león. Sus uñas son tan fuertes y afiladas que con ellas podría pelar una piña. "Si se rompen, para tocar hay que pegarse las postizas que venden en las droguerías;" explica. Con esas manos y un arpa llanera, Edmar Castañeda ha dejado marcas en la escena del jazz latino. Las revistas especializadas no ahorran elogios y en Italia rompió los buenos modales según los cuales los teloneros no deben robarse el show

Edmar ha tocado joropos con John Scofield y ha estado en la tarima junto a Yo-Yo Ma, Romer Lubambo y Paquito D'Rivera. Este último destacó "el enorme talento, versatilidad y el carisma de quien, sacando su arpa de las sombras, se ha convertido en uno de los músicos más originales de la Babel de Hierro." Arcadia habló con él en Nueva York.

¿Cómo empezó en la música?

Yo nací en Bogotá y comencé en la música a los siete años. Mi madre no tenía quien nos cuidara a mi hermana y a mi los sábados y entonces mi tía que estudiaba joropo consiguió una beca en el Centro Cultural Llanero en Bogota. Ahí empezamos a bailar y fue cuando vi el arpa por primera vez. A los trece empecé a tocarla, pero nunca tuve realmente un profesor. A los dieciséis vine a los Estados Unidos. Mi papá, que es pianista, ya estaba aquí y me trajo para que estudiara. Fue difícil, pero fue bueno al mismo tiempo. Yo entré al "high-school" sin hablar una palabra de inglés y tal vez por eso me refugié en la música. Los colegios aquí tienen muy buenos programas de música y me metí a la banda. Luego entré a la universidad a estudiar música y me dediqué a la trompeta, un instrumento que yo conocía de mi época de primaria en el INEM del Tunal. Fue aquí en Estados Unidos donde descubrí el jazz, una música que nunca antes había oído. Cuando terminé de estudiar, lo que había aprendido de trompeta lo pasé al arpa. Esa es la mezcla que me ha permitido sacar un nuevo sonido.

Cómo logró meter el arpa al jazz?

Yo estudiaba todo el día y por las noches trabajaba en Mesón Olé, un restaurante español en Long Island. De eso vivía. Yo digo que esa fue mi gran escuela. Todas las noches tenía que tocar durante cuatro horas. Tocaba de todo: tangos, boleros, música brasilera, pero también improvisaba mucho, que era lo que a mí me interesaba.

¿Pero cómo brincó del restaurante español al Carnegie Hall?

Empecé a tocar mucho en "descargas" afrocubanas, gracias a la invitación que me hizo mi profesor de teoría Alfredo Valdés jr., un gran pianista y compositor cubano. Llevé mi arpa y simplemente hice lo mismo que hacía en el restaurante. Les gustó y me seguían llamando. "¡Inviten al niño del arpa! ", decían.

Un día Paquito D'Rivera me oyó tocar y se me acercó. Me dijo: "La próxima semana hay una fiesta de flautas en mi casa, ¿por qué no vienes?" Yo fui y quedé impresionado. Ahí estaban Johnny Pacheco y otros flautistas más. A las dos semanas me invitaron a participar en un concierto en el Beacon Thea ter de Nueva York con la gente de Calle 54. Ese día cambió mi carrera. Fue increíble. Estaba Michel Camilo, Gato Barbieri y Jerry González, entre otros, Realmente Paquito D'Rivera ha sido el que me ha subido a los grandes escenarios.

Qué es to que tanto gusta de la forma en que usted toca el arpa?

Hay muchas clases de arpas. La que yo toco es el arpa llanera, diferente al arpa clásica de pedales. Como yo siempre tocaba solo en el restaurante empecé a independizar las manos y a usar la izquierda como un bajo mientras con la derecha improvisaba la melodía y buscaba nuevas escalas. Es como tocar dos instrumentos a la vez. Eso es bastante inusual en el arpa.

Hace poco dimos un concierto con mi trío -arpa, trombón y percusión- en el Umbria jazz Festival en Perugia, Italia. El arpa fue la revelación del festival, donde había figuras de la talla de Wayne Shorter y Díana Krall, a quien le abrimos el concierto. Fue un bombazo. Nunca habían visto tocar un arpa de esa manera.

Qué espera la gente de un arpa en el jazz como la que usted toca?

Mucha gente cree que sólo sirve para tocar música clásica; cosas muy suaves. Nunca habían visto un sonido fuerte, con improvisación y sobre todo con mucho groove.

Qué lo diferencia a usted de un buen arpista llanero?

De pronto que me salí de ese medio. Ahora que estuve en Colombia vi arpistas muy buenos. Niños, incluso, que tocan increíble. Pero se quedan encerrados en ese medio. Allá el más virtuoso es el que toque más rápido. Yo me abrí al mundo y empecé a recoger músicas de todas partes y a aplicar la música Ilanera a eso. Para mí, virtuoso es el que toca de todo y sabe hacerlo funcionar en la situación en la que esté.

Cuáles son sus influencias?

Yo escucho de todo menos reggaetón. Es dificil escoger unos cuantos, pero creo que los que más me han influenciado son Piazzolla, Paco de Lucía, Chopin, Chick Corea y Hermeto Pascual.

No precisamente arpistas...

Es verdad. No oigo a muchos arpistas. Y si los oigo no me influencian. Siento que no puedo coger mucho de ahí. Prefiero oír otros instrumentos y aplicar lo que escucho al arpa.

¿Y de música colombiana?

La música de Lucho Bermúdez es increíble. Ahora que pasé por Medellín estuve oyendo muchos porros. Es impresionan te la riqueza musical que hay en Colombia, pero no se le presta mucha atención. Los pasillos son maravillosos: las melodías, el vocabulario... es como si estuvieran improvisando en jazz. Aquí casi nadie conoce eso.

Tomado del periódico cultural Arcadia No.17, febrero de 2007

01.21.07 | PANAMA JAZZ FESTIVAL
The most amazing and well received new sensation for Panamanian jazz fans was Colombian harpist Edmar Castañeda. It wasn't just him, however. The entire band, which included trombone player Marshall Gilkes, drummer Dave Silliman and the vocalist Andrea Tierra, played brilliantly, mixing innovative jazz forms --- including some trombone work like you probably have never heard before --- with Colombian traditional music. In a festival dedicated to a late great female vocalist Tierra, who did not play in the publicity, wowed the audiences at least as much as any of the ther talented women who sang. The CDs this band brought to sell were quickly snapped up by the fans and Castañeda's group got the concert's biggest ovations.

12.11.06 | REVIEW, THE NEWYORKTIMES CALLE 54 CONCERT
Finally, Paquito D'Rivera staged his trip around Latin America, as he has been doing in recent concert performances. His band often includes the Argentine bandoneón, flamenco guitar and the Cuban bata drums. On Sunday, there was a harpist of imposing talent, Edmar Castañeda.

JAZZ FESTIVAL REVIEW; 'Calle 54' Live Documents A Latin Side Of the Beat
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By BEN RATLIFF
Published: June 26, 2001

08.18.06 | REVIEW, ALBEREBELLO JAZZ FESTIVAL ITALY
EDMAR CASTANEDA TRIO AT ALBEREBELLO JAZZ FESTIVAL ITALY

07.17.06 | REVIEW,JAZZ TIMES UMBRIAJAZZ06
Edmar Castaneda’s short opening set took Diana Krall’s mellow crowd by surprise. Castaneda plays the arpa llanera, or Colombian harp, a diatonic instrument from which he snatches twanging, sweet, twittering, chiming, dense sonorities like nothing else in contemporary music. Castaneda’s trio with drummer David C. Silliman and trombonist Marshall Gilkes included the “resident artists” at Umbria Jazz, performed nine times, and were among the revelations of the festival.

Venue/
Location: Arena Santa Giuliana, Teatro Morlacchi, Teatro Pavone, Rocca Paolina
Perugia , Italy
Date(s): July 7, 2006 - July 17, 2006
Written By: Thomas Conrad

06.24.06 | REVIEW ALBANY JAZZ FREIHOFER'S JAZZ FESTIVAL
Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda and his unique, nearly inconceivable ensemble comprising of a trombonist who also doubled on cello and a percussionist delivered the "wow" factor at the festival and captivated the large gathering around the gazebo. Obviously, the harp and the cello have not been associated with jazz, however, in the hands of classically trained virtuosos who are also imbued with enormous creativity and passion, the instruments and their inimitable sound were seamlessly transmuted into the jazz idiom with incandescent flair. Among many resplendent musical propositions cultivated by this ensemble, Castaneda stretched the harp into a fascinating percussive instrument and the band created cascades of intoxicating South American rhythms. Most of the melodies were derived from South American folk songs and the various textures of the instrumentalities spawned musical hues and effects rarely realized. Assuredly, Castaneda and crew are deserving of wider appeal.

FREIHOFER'S JAZZ FESTIVAL (Day 1)
Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga, NY
June 24, 2006

by Randy Treece

03.12.06 | Giovanni hidalgo performs for congahead.com
live recoring at LP studio .
Giovanni Hidalgo, Elio Villafranco, Reynaldo Jorge, John Benitez and Edmar Castañeda

02.13.06 | LIVE INTERVIEW NYC NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO
LIVE INTERVIEW EDMAR CASTANEDA TRIO

01.22.06 | REVIEW, JAZZ TIMES, NYC Winter Jazzfest
NYC Winter Jazzfest
Venue/
Location: Knitting Factory
New York, NY USA
Date(s): January 22, 2006
Written By: Bill Milkowski

This supercharged trio was followed in the Old Office by the phenomenal Columbian harpist Edmar Castaneda, whose technically astounding approach to the instrument normally associated with classical music has been registering with scenesters over the past year. Covering independent, heavily grooving bass lines with his left hand while chording and also running counterpoint melodies and dazzling triplet figures with his right hand (a kind of Charlie Hunter or Joe Passian approach to the harp), Castenada performed a buoyant, Latin-tinged set with his unorthodox trio of trombonist Marshall Gilkes and drummer Dave Silliman, who performed on a hybrid kit that had him switching from cajon to the traps set with skillful aplomb. Since arriving in the States last year, Castenada has been championed by Paquito D?Rivera, who has employed the harpist for some high profile gigs. But the full scope of Castanada?s gift is revealed in this sparse trio setting, in which he simultaneously covers three functions in the band.

12.29.05 | UMBRIA JAZZ 05
EDMAR CASTANEDA TRIO
MARSHALL GILKES :TROMBONE
DAVE SILLIMAN : DRUMS

08.12.04 | DUO EDMAR AND DAVE AT LP STUDIO
EDMAR CASTANEDA AND DAVE SILLIMAN DUO AT LP STUDIOS
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