Dominican Drummer & Composer Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez Pleads For The Earth’s Survival On Emotionally Attuned Debut Album A Letter To The Earth, out June 7 via Orenda Records

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The highly sought-after Dominican drummer, composer, educator, and synthesist Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez is proud to reveal her debut album, A Letter to the Earth, out June 7, 2024, via Orenda Records. This album of all original music features Gonzalez on drums and electronics, along with pianist Kris Davis, bassist Max Ridley, and tenor saxophonist Ben Solomon.

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From an artist who’s been turning heads at least since her graduation from the Dominican Republic Conservatory of Music in 2015 and Berklee College of Music in 2020, A Letter to the Earth is a stunning opening salvo in service of the blue marble — our only home.

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“Since I was little I always loved nature and I was surrounded by many trees, rivers, and beaches in my country, the Dominican Republic,” Gonzalez says. “But climate change is a reality, and everything that I experienced as a child has been disappearing so fast— and now, they are just memories.”

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To that end, A Letter to the Earth not only keeps the memory alive; it’s a plea for humanity to reverse course, via its universal language. Eschewing any lecturing in favor of pure feeling, A Letter to the Earth is an atmospheric, evocative jaw dropper — with a cross-section of contemporary jazz’s best and brightest buoying her artistic vision.