“Handmade” by Emilio Solla in the international press

Over the last few months, "Handmade," the album by Emilio Solla with La Inestable de Brooklyn, released by Club del Disco, has been garnering reviews in specialized media from different countries. Jazz, tango, chamber music, composition, improvisation, and, above all, the value of human interpretation are some of the recurring elements mentioned when discussing the album.

Music made by people

The very concept of "Handmade" occupies a central place in a large part of the critiques. The album champions artisanal work and musical creation realized through writing, instruments, and the interaction among musicians.

Jazz-Fun precisely starts from this idea to analyze the album. The German publication highlights how Emilio Solla contrasts shared interpretation with digital perfection and focuses on the moment when sound is born from hands, breath, and listening among musicians.

The Austrian magazine Concerto also emphasizes this aspect. Its review presents "Handmade" as a celebration of Solla's compositional work and, at the same time, of the exchange among the members of La Inestable de Brooklyn. The medium points out the combination of tango, Latin American musical tradition, jazz, and classical influences.

La Inestable de Brooklyn

In "Handmade," Emilio Solla leads La Inestable de Brooklyn, a nonet whose formation allows for working with a wide variety of timbres and instrumental combinations.

The album features Sara Caswell on violin, Rodolfo Zanetti on bandoneon, Alejandro Avilés on soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, and flute, Tim Armacost on tenor saxophone, clarinet, and bass clarinet, David Smith on trumpet and flugelhorn, Mike Fahie on trombone, Edward Perez on double bass, and Rogério Boccato on drums and percussion. Emilio Solla completes the lineup on piano and as director.

The participation of these musicians is one of the elements that various reviews highlight when discussing the character of the album. Concerto particularly emphasizes the collective work of the ensemble and how the music allows one to hear that it originates from the people who interpret and build it.

From the "Suite de los Abrazos" to the sound of "Handmade"

The arrangements written for this lineup allow Solla to move between different languages while maintaining a common identity throughout the album. Jazz-Fun speaks of a combination of the transparency typical of chamber music, the rhythmic force of tango, and the harmonic richness of modern jazz.

The "Suite de los Abrazos," divided into three parts throughout the album, appears recurrently in reviews. Concerto describes it as a musical reflection on the pandemic linked to chaos, loss, and a positive outlook toward the future.

The repertoire also includes "Joni Mitchell," "Para el Agua," "Miles Tango," "Bird Song," "La Carta," and "De Viento y de Sal," along with the three parts of the suite.

International Reception

Since its launch, "Handmade" has appeared in specialized media in various countries, with reviews approaching the album from different perspectives.

In Europe, GoodTimes highlights the artisanal nature of the project, the combination of tango, jazz, and chamber music, and the variety of its arrangements. Concerto, which awards the album four out of five points, focuses on Emilio Solla's compositional work and the interaction among the members of La Inestable de Brooklyn, in addition to noting the coexistence of tango, Latin American tradition, jazz, and classical influences.

Jazz-Fun dedicates an extensive review to the album and particularly highlights the relationship between composition and improvisation. The medium presents the nonet as an ensemble in which each musician has their own space without losing the overall unity of the sound. In Catalonia, 440 magazine dwells on the balance between Solla's Argentine roots and a contemporary conception of the jazz orchestra, in addition to exploring different moments of the repertoire and some of the musicians' interventions.

"Handmade" has also appeared in German publications such as AUDIO+stereoplay and na dann..., while in the United States it has received attention from media such as All About Jazz, The New York City Jazz Record, and Notes on Jazz. American reviews have highlighted various aspects of the project, from the writing and arrangements to the lively, warm, and human character of the interpretation.

"Handmade," as seen by critics

The reviews published over these months approach "Handmade" from different angles, but several elements appear repeatedly: Emilio Solla's compositional work, the sonic personality of La Inestable de Brooklyn, the coexistence of tango, jazz, and chamber music, and the importance the album places on collective interpretation.

An international reception that focuses not only on the compositions but also on the people who perform them and on an idea that is present from the very title of the album: handmade music.