Ivanna Cuesta
BANDLEADER
ALBUM DEBUT
A LETTER TO THE EARTH
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
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.
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.
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Reviews
"Échappant à tout sermon au profit d'un sentiment, “A Letter to the Earth” est un album atmosphérique et évocateur avec un échantillon des plus brillants interprètes du jazz contemporain, solidaires de sa vision artistique."
ALEX DUTILH - RADIO FRANCE
NOAH SCHAFFER - WBUR
"For her debut, she’s presenting an album of deeply meditative and thoughtful original compositions that combine improvisation with electronics. "
DEE DEE McNEIL - MUSICAL MEMOIRS
"This entire album is a lesson in what makes jazz so international, infectious and hypnotic."
TIM LARSEN - JAZZ VIEWS
"The electronic effects from Cuesta are tasteful, daring, birdlike."
MIKE JURKOVICALL - ABOUT JAZZ
"From the onset of its spiraling, corkscrew self, A Letter to the Earth finds two ever-emerging forces—pianist Kris Davis and drummer Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez—locked into the mindset that home base (Earth) is screwed-up and (we) had better do something about it!"
JAMES HALE - SOUND STAGE EXPERIENCE
"Overall, A Letter to the Earth put me in mind of the early works of Tyshawn Sorey, another percussionist with the tools and techniques to compose across a wide range of styles. Cuesta is clearly among those whose career development will be worth tracking."
MARK GRIFFITH - MODERN DRUMMER
"She combines mature compositions, bombastic and sensitive drumming, and wonderful production into a winning musical package."
LISETTE CORSA - JAZZIZ
"Album opener “Chaos” sets Cuesta Gonzalez apart as an audacious composer; her cunning ability to capture the uneasiness of a world on the brink is underscored by Davis’ eerily distorted melody and angular piano lines cutting through swinging rhythms and Ridley’s double-time bass."