Musician/Composer/Rhythm Coach
"WRITE OR WRONG"
WINNER AS "BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL SONG" FOR THE 17TH ANNUAL INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS 2019
"Write Or Wrong" featuring Benito Gonzalez (Piano), Corcoran Holt (Bass) and Myron Walden (Sax ). Recorded at Systems Two Studios in Brooklyn, NY.
"HERE & NOW" Ivan Diaz latest recording
Review by Rosario Di Leo
Here and Now is the first, long thought out work of the latino drummer/composer, the first as a leader, we mean.
Here. Diaz's music travels on an not so imaginary boat that connects the Caribbean Sea to the Hudson River, crossing the Ocean, with a stop in Madrid.
NOW
Vitality and latin corazon - which is not just a cliché, Here - are overflowing, starting from the first track of the record (Write Or Wrong). Everything is under control, except the imagination. Rhythmic textures - not only those of the two countrymen Diaz and Gonzalez are commonly complex and sophisticated, but never one-way, never aim to themselves. The purpose is music, not else.
The "voice" of Myron Walden is definitely bewitching. Every single note of the saxophone is a cry of emancipation. A release from any oppression. The double bass player, Corcoran Holt, is a faithful, fixed, sure support; he never goes out of the track and when he is singing he knows how to do it.
Against a backdrop reminiscent of Hancock, Tyner and Hard-Bop/Modal styles, south american rhythms cleverly overlap with the open-voicing harmonies.
Melodic lines are "burning" and, even so, they are strict and "perfect".
The track 4 is a moment of reflection.
Aside from Maiden Voyage of Hancock, restyled, with a perceptible "freaky" salsa mood, the other tunes in this record, on the same line as his mentors, show that Ivan absorbed the "lesson", the one to be a drummer thinking as a composer.
Ultimately, the work of the musician from Caracas can be conceived as a musical metaphor for a complex but not automated system.
Everything is clear; everything is on its right place; all that shows that even emotions can be estimated.
No right and no wrong, but Here and Now. Like jazz.
Bravo is not just a surname.
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R I T M I A rhythm & groove method
Ritmia was created for building a strong inner pulse, a deep understanding of rhythm and the ability to accurately hear and interpret the rhythmic patterns that the other musicians are playing, in order to respond in the most musical way possible.
There are 3 basic skills we need to develop:
1.- Our inner time or inner pulse
2.- The conditioning of our bodies to play our instrument
3.- Our ears
After many years of coaching myself and others, it seems that only a few, very "gifted" players have this 3 elements by default. This in turn makes it very difficult for the “average rhythmically talented” musician to get guidance from this great performers on how to achieve such high level, simply because in a lot of cases it is not something they have worked on, it is something they were born with. Sadly enough, most students end up buying the very limiting belief that they just "don´t have it" and they give up.
."...If they don´t know how to teach it, they will call it TALENT..."