December 12, 2014

Oriol Roca – Solo

ORIOL ROCA SOLO

“The most significant part of his solo work is that we are faced with one of the few drummers- and musicians in general – capable of constructing with his instrument a beautiful and poetic narrative discourse.” Martí Farré, Nativa (ESP)

 

Barcelona born drummer Oriol Roca had no intention to release a solo album. He didn’t even plan to perform solo, for that matter. And yet, La Tomba dei Giganti is his first outing under his own name. In August 2009, Paolo Angeli, an amazing Italian improviser, invited Oriol to perform at Isole che Parlano, an arts festival held in the tiny village of Palau, in the Italian island of Sardinia. Italian sound engineer Roberto Monari happened to be there with his recording equipment to document the festival. Oriol was struck to recognize himself so strongly in the music, and he realized it was closer to the way he felt about music than anything else he’d ever done before. And thats how Roca’s first ever solo album, recorded on the evening of his first ever solo performance, came to be.

 

When playing solo Roca expands his set using all kinds of cymbals, different drums, objects, metal bars, plastic bags, stones, toys, bags of sand, a cheap wood flute, kitchen utensils, mini bells, Chinese sticks, an original 22″ Paiste gong from 70’s a good friend gave him… anything capable of creating sound is welcome to explore in a free musical form the infinite possibilities of textures, density, dynamics we’re all surrounded by.

 

ORIOL ROCA: drums, percussion and objects

 

 

“Oriol Roca is a drummer with a simmering sensitivity that does not lack muscle. His playing has continued to send us back to one of the greatest percussionists known to free music, the huge Barry Altschul, whose Oriol appears today as the obvious successor.” Focus Vif (BE)

 

“Perhaps it’s the restraint displayed by Roca that makes his solo album so compelling, but the forty minutes flew right by and I was sad when the album ended.” All About Jazz (USA)

 

“Oriol Roca, drummer although it would be better to define him as percussionist, of which I have always thought that he has a great instinctive intelligence, (listen to his solo album La Tomba dei Giganti).” Germán Lázaro, Cuadernos de Jazz (ESP)

 

“Oriol Roca is a drummer and a percussionist continuously looking for new colors.” Claude Loxhay, Jazzaround (BE)

 

“Oriol Roca bounces from one rhythmic to the next, coloring more than hitting, draws air movements more than he structures.” Diane Gastellu, Citizenjazz (FR)

 

“Oriol Roca is undoubtedly an energetic and creative drummer.” Joël Plagier, Jazzman Magazine (FR)

 

“Roca enters into another complex and unpredictable series of patterns which would serve most other drummers as a solo, but here it’s simply his agile contribution to the landscape.” Dave Foxall, Jazz Journal (UK)

 

“I’ve been poking around drummer Oriol Roca‘s music for a couple years now, and he always finds a way to gain interest.” Dave Summer, Bird is the Worm (USA)

 

“The drummer Oriol Roca is not only building an interesting musical career within our country in groups like MUT Trio, or with Giulia Valle and David Mengual to name a few. It also has recognition beyond our borders with groups such as VRAK Trio, the Piccola Orchestra Gagarin, or with the pianist Giovanni Di Domenico.” Pachi Tapiz, Tomajazz (ESP)

 

“Oriol Roca is an exceptional drummer: flexible and perfectly at ease in polyrhythms and very capable of playing even outside the pulse, a perfect shoulder for other musicians.” Andrea Aguzzi, Italia Paperblog (IT)

ALBUMS
March 8, 2015

ORIOL ROCA – LA TOMBA DEI GIGANTI

La Tomba dei Giganti

Artist : Oriol Roca

Release Date : July 6, 2010

Label : Whatabout Music

Format : Digital

Recorded live at Festival Isole che Parlano (Palau, Italy) by Roberto Monari September 11th 2009. Mixed and mastered by Dave Bianchi at The Emergency Room Studio (Barcelona). Cover artwork by Andrea Cirotto. Photography by Nanni Angeli

 

Go to ORIOL ROCA

Buy album:

Barcelona born drummer Oriol Roca had no intention to release a solo album. He didn’t even plan to perform solo, for that matter. And yet, La Tomba dei Giganti is his first outing under his own name. In August 2009, Paolo Angeli, an amazing Italian improviser, invited Oriol to perform at Isole che Parlano, an arts festival held in the tiny village of Palau, in the Italian island of Sardinia. Italian sound engineer Roberto Monari happened to be there with his recording equipment to document the festival. Oriol was struck to recognize himself so strongly in the music, and he realized it was closer to the way he felt about music than anything else he’d ever done before. And thats how Roca’s first ever solo album, recorded on the evening of his first ever solo performance, came to be.

 

  • Oriol Roca: drums, percussion, flute and other objects

Press

 

Perhaps it’s the restraint displayed by Roca that makes this track so compelling, but the five minutes flew right by and I was sad when the album ended. All About Jazz (November 2011)

 

(…) Oriol Roca, baterista aunque mejor sería decir percusionista, del que siempre he pensado que tiene una gran inteligencia instintiva, (escuchen sino su disco en solo La Tomba dei Giganti). Germán Lázaro, Cuadernos de Jazz (April 2012)

 

Què és la vida? Què fou primer? D’on venim? On som? On anem? Preguntes que de ben segur es feien les comunitats sedentàries que durant l’Edat de Pedra van construir el monument funerari avui conegut com La Tomba dei Giganti, a la localitat sarda de Palau, i a on a l’actualitat s’hi celebra el festival Isole che Parlano. Què haurien pensat els enterramorts d’aleshores si els haguessin explicat que 3.600 anys més tard un bateria els explicaria l’origen d’una cosa que en diuen música? Oriol Roca, reconegut timbaler de les noves generacions del jazz barceloní, va ser convidat el 2009 a oferir un solo a l’indret més espiritual de Palau. I, dit i fet, se li va acudir mirar d’explicar – interpretar – l’origen de la música com a un fenomen derivat de la invenció – o constatació – del ritme; i del ritme com a una part inherent a la condició humana.

La Tomba dei Giganti és, doncs, un viatge a la recerca de l’abstracció a partir de la nuesa d’un senzill batec de metrònom que, des del primer tall del disc – “Sound” -, transita cap a una major complexitat conceptual. Del so passem a la música – “Music” -, amb un ritme dispers a partir d’harmònics i escomeses melòdiques. El metrònom llavors s’apaga i el so es converteix en moviment: “Dance”, l’inici d’un discurs enrevessat que assoleix el seu màxim clímax a “Life”, metàfora del nomadisme i l’exploració. Un passatge introspectiu, “Wisdom”, dóna a pas a la bretolada del disc: una singular interpretació d’“Els Segadors” amb una flauta d’èmbol. Un final només comprensible si se’ns explica que el treball fou enregistrat un 11 de setembre, i que ens du a concloure que els himnes nacionals – com a gènere musical i com a significat simbòlic – no resten tant lluny del més absolut primitivisme humà. En tot cas, el més significatiu d’aquest treball és que ens trobem davant d’un dels escassos bateries – i músics en general – capaços de construir amb el seu instrument un bell i poètic discurs narratiu. Martí Farré, Nativa (October 2010)

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