BACKSTAGE: MAKING OF A SONG
Jazz’s greatest artists trace the evolution of a composition from conception to performance, and you’re invited on the journey – backstage and on-stage.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Saxophonist and former SFJAZZ Collective member Miguel Zenón brings us into his creative process for his arrangement of the 1958 Miles Davis classic “Nardis,” inspired by the music of Bulgarian clarinetist Ivo Papasov that mixes modern jazz with the traditional Stambalovo music of Bulgaria. The Collective performed Zenón’s arrangement in October 2016 during their week of performances in the 2016-17 Season.

ABOUT MIGUEL ZENÓN
As a founding member of the SFJAZZ Collective in 2004, Miguel Zenón was a conspicuously talented, largely unknown 27-year-old saxophonist getting set to release his second album.

Two decades later, Zenón is among the most celebrated altoists of his generation, a GRAMMY winner and Guggenheim and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow who has extended jazz’s conceptual reach with a series of albums exploring the music of his native Puerto Rico. During his 15 seasons with the SFJAZZ Collective, Zenón emerged as “one of the important contemporary revisers of Latin jazz” (The New York Times). His 2023 duo album with Luis Perdomo, El Arte del Bolero Vol 2, won a GRAMMY for Best Latin Jazz Album

Beyond his work as a performer, Zenón has been steadfastly devoted to education, teaching at prestigious institutions all over the world, and working tirelessly to bring music to the rural areas of Puerto Rico through his Caravana Cultural program.