Furito Ríos At the music business he's known as Furito, his passion for music took him at the early age of twelve to the "Escuela Libre de Música", he alternated his studies by playing professional Latin music with the best performers of this gender. He continued music studies at University of Puerto Rico and was the fourth student in the history of The Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music that graduated from Musical Composition. He expands his horizons in Boston entering in 1986 to Berklee College of Music were he received lessons of professors like Bill Pierce, Andy Mcgee and clinics with Michael Brecker. He later on earns a Master Degree on Music Education from Boston University. He moves to Las Vegas to be part of the "Latin Quarter" show directed by Kenny Ortega. He has played and recorded with many artists throughout his carrier such as: Tito Puente ,Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, José José, Diane Shurr , Marco Antonio Solis, Ilan Chester, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Lucesita Benitez, Roberto Carlos, Raphael, Danny Rivera, Roberto Rohena, Bobby Valentín, Joan Rivers, Sheila E.,The Marvelettes, Proyecto M, Descarga Boricua , Isabel Pantoja, Paloma San Basilio, Justino Diaz, Christian Castro, Justo Almario, David Sanchez, Hilton Ruiz, Michel Camilo, Jerry González, Andy Montañez, Member of Cultura Profetica and many others. Since 1991 Rios participated in special concerts with Puerto Rico Symphony Orquestra; "Jazz Quintet and Orquestra" 91,and other concerts with artist; Giovanni Hidalgo, Michael Camilo and Arturo Sandoval. Ríos appeared in different Jazz festivals such as "Michelob Jazz Fest" 1990-1992. He played at the "Heineken Jazz Fest" 1991,92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 2000 with different artist such as Arturo Sandoval, Tito Puente, Bob Mintzer, Mike Mossman, Diane Shurr, Eddie Palmieri and others. He appeared at the "Curacao Jazz Fest 1993" were he shared the stage with Paquito D' Rivera and George Benson and his performance at the “Dominican Republic Jazz Fest” fifth edition, were he shared the stage with Arturo Sandoval, was highly praised. On 1994 one of his dreams and his compositions came alive by creating his own group uniting forces with a gathering of the best musicians in Puerto Rico.They performed as a group at the Puerto Rico Center of Performing Arts on November 1994. They played throughout the island with the "Feel the Heineken Night Tour" and the "Heineken Jazz Jam Sessions". Furito's jazz group appeared at the "Puerto Rico Jazz Fest 95" with great acceptance and feedback from the critics because his performance turn to be one of the festival surprises. All through his career Rios has played in over 400 recordings including one with composer Luis Cobos and the Royal Philharmonic of London; Rios has also played recognized and famous jingles. Been such a versatile musician as he is, he plays different instruments having succeed musically with all of them, they are; flute, piccolo, clarinets and all the saxophones. This capacity to play from one instrument to another took him to play different and important musicals like; Guys and Dolls, The Phantom of the Opera and Questionable Quest on The Beacon Theater on Broadway. Furito also works as an assistant clarinet player at Puerto Rico's Symphony Orquestra. Ríos composes and arranges for many artist and theater plays such as, Andrés Jímenez and Ismael Miranda, Victoria Sanabria, Cano Estremera ,Lorca’s El Retablillo, Carmen and others. Furito compose the music for the movie “Costa Sur” (a Puerto Rican production). Ríos received the important commission by Maestro Krzysztof Pendereski to compose a Contemporary piece for the Racher Saxophone quartet for The 2002 Pablo Casal’s International Festival. Ríos is the founder and creator of a Public Jazz Series called, “Jazzeando en la Plaza” were the public had the oportunity of listening their favorite local jazz artist perform with Furito’s quartet at the different parks of San Juan.. The Time 6:38 is Furito’s first solo recording, in this exciting musical work Furito composes, arranges, plays the flute, tenor sax, alto sax, soprano and baritone and includes the performance of great artist such as David Sanchez and Jerry González. Furito was the founder and musical director of the “Festival de Jazz Boriquén”, the first free jazz festival in Puerto Rico, from 2001 to 2007 were he has directed and shared the stage with world renowned performers such as; Jane Bunnett, Eddie Gomez, Hilton Ruiz, Jerry González, Giovanni Hidalgo, David Sánchez, Papo Vázquez, Bobby Valentín, William Cepeda, Alex Acuña, John Benítez and Alon Yavnai among many others. He was commissioned by The Bronx Arts Ensemble orquestra to compose two orquestra pieces for their autumn concert. He was also the Invited Conductor for the entire concert. Ríos was Artist in Residence for VID-90, an all Jazz Radio Station in PR, were he conducted a program about jazz history “The Workshop” and perform at Station’s concerts all thru the island. He’s also artist of “Cañas González”, and Argentinean based Reed’s Company. He was also comissioned by Ponce Museum of Art to write music for their annual Gala 2011, in a concert called Symphonic Jazz wich featured his jazz sextet with a Symphony Orchestra. The concert was a success. His second solo production, Cuatro al Jazz, recorded live from Boriquén Jazz Fest., is an example of the musical quality of the festival and the fusion that Ríos is bringing to jazz, in the unification of JAZZ and THE PUERTORICAN RYTHMS. His third musical recording as a soloist on 2012, reunites Ríos with hes first passion, Salsa. LA MAESTRIA, is and impressive salsa and Latin Jazz recording featuring some of the greatest musicians in both genders and includes well known Gypsy singer from Barcelona, Spain in three incredible tracks. La Maestría has won international recognition, being selected as one of the best salsa and latin jazz recording of the year by many critics, and is still being played and dance in many discos and station thru Japan and Europe. For this new recording Furito has a very diferent proposal, Standard Bomba is the merge between Jazz and Puertorican folkcloric Bomba. This was a life recording in studio, without takes or editing in order to recreate the vintage sound of legendary jazz recordings. Recorded by the best puertorican musicians in both genders. February 5 2015 is the international release date, the musicians from the recording will perform at the Grand Ballroom of Hotel Verdanza in San Juan, Puerto Rico and will be streaming thru Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico, celebrating their 35 th year of Jazz and World music Broadcasting. Album Notes from the point of view of a young poet and jazz lover.“Standard Bomba”de José Furito Ríos transmite una vibración singular. Hay una alta incidencia de algo tan sutil que no tiene nombre y que podríamos llamar hilo de voz, aliento, soplo de espíritu. Aliento, espíritu y voz se hacen uno y se diseminan en los oídos de una escucha atenta, profunda, y la realidad desaparece. Sé que esta terminología puede parecer extraña, insólita, inadecuada para hablar de un disco de jazz, pero ¿qué puedo hacer si interrogo su música y ésta continuamente me lleva hacia un lugar encantado parecido a una nada? Lo que hay que ver es cómo Furito da este sentido a la búsqueda sumergiéndose en dos géneros que están asociados sobre todo al ritmo, al cuerpo y a la sangre. Desde dos estilos donde el elemento racial negro funciona de un modo particular, Furito genera una búsqueda de libertad profunda donde los estilos dialogan y se alimentan pero quedan desarraigados, se desdibujan y hacen posible un sentido más amplio. El rigor técnico del jazz y la clave de la bomba propician en el disco una síntesis donde, más allá de la sorpresa feliz que experimentamos en una primera escucha, el saldo es una emoción compleja, pero modesta y elemental. La gran hazaña de Furito parece ser, más que la fusión interpretativa de dos estilos, el desaparecer como intérprete. Esto lo pienso cada vez que escucho el disco, sus compases contrastantes, la forma en que un tema desdibuja el anterior, sus intrigas, sus súbitos silencios. Hay una libertad profunda en la síntesis que Furito logra en este disco. Sus nueve números están tomados del repertorio jazzístico norteamericano, y vale la pena notar que uno de ellos, “Cherokee”, fue la pieza fundadora del bebop, o el primer tema concreto del jazz moderno. Vistos desde un plano sencillo, los temas parecen representar un viaje de vuelta a esos orígenes, tanto del jazz como de la bomba, y recrear una síntesis entre ambos géneros musicales. Las líneas melódicas asumen un carácter travieso y cobran un brillo tribal lleno de humor en temas como “Byrdlike” o “Cherokee”. En esos dos temas no sé bien si la melodía es de algún modo una adivinanza o una provocación, pues tienen un carácter burlesco y cierta indolencia, cierto desafecto. Esta intención de juego está lograda, quizás más que en ningún otro tema, en “Freedom Jazz Dance”: el término del disco es ocasión de un detenido regodeo en lo socarrón y lo apático, pero en este caso Furito rescata esta emoción a través de elementos que primordialmente son ajenos a la bomba, en particular el trino y el punteo de escalas (menores). Quizás este sea el momento más alto de evocación en el disco, pues con elementos ajenos se consigue celebrar un estilo y el viaje no es para nada melancólico, es una nostalgia desmentida. Es como si Furito pudiera transmitir el sabor de la bomba desde un lenguaje propio que tiene el jazz por fundamento. Al final de este tema la repetición de la línea melódica sí surge bajo un encuadre rítmico de la bomba, pero ya se ha avanzado demasiado hacia una música propia como para que no parezca una provocación, una burla, un gesto narcicista de la música negra interpretado desde otro lugar. En “You Don't Know What Love Is” se arranca desde el acompañamiento rítmico de un incitante tambor en clave de plena y un bajo que suena a latin para presentar las melodías jazzísticas del saxo en toda su sensualidad. Aquí el equilibrio logrado es hermoso y aparece la melancolía propia del jazz, podemos imaginar una lenta tarde de domingo, a Dexter Gordon con un vaso de whisky en el cielo, pero sólo hasta cierto punto, porque la batería y el bajo no se van por completo de la bomba, el piano tiene un colorido que impide que la solemnidad sea completa, y el tema tiene una brillantez, una sutil liviandad del Mar Caribe. Cuando Furito parece apresar la esencia de la bomba, la música amenaza con transformarse en un enigma cerrado sobre sí, pero creo que esto es sólo la puerta a un lugar más profundo, a un hechizo, porque el enigma siempre se desdibuja, hay un tránsito, algo que se expone, y el efecto resultante es de que formamos parte de una aventura. Me pregunto cómo hace el saxofón del Furo para ir siempre hacia adelante, unificando elementos, tierras desconocidas, ese saxofón que es el compás realizador de un sueño curioso, viajero, al que nos sumamos desde el inicio de estos nueve temas. Y quedo sin voz, sin respuesta, y de ahí llego a la comprobación, de que hay algo en este disco que está más allá de sus ideas. Andres Bermudez