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Trumpeter and composer Michael Simon founded Roots United at the beginning of the new millennium in order to further the evolution of the Latin jazz genre by performing original works. Therefore he chose the best Latin, Caribbean and jazz musicians in Holland to join this band.
In his groundbreaking book The Latin Tinge, John Storm Roberts proved that Latin-American music was the most important outside influence on U.S. popular music of the last 100 years. Therefore, the first of the great “fusions†of jazz has earned its pervasive status by evolving in many different directions thanks to its exploratory nature, which combines numerous traditions and moves across countless musical boundaries.
Roots United keeps this tradition alive by defining a distinct approach by the way Western compositional techniques are used to incorporate Afro-Caribbean and South-American rhythmical and interpretational traditions within a jazz context. This could only be achieved by gathering together musicians who have followed this path, and therefore are acquainted with both idioms (the roots). As it is for Andy Gonzalez, one of the major exponents of the genre, for us Latin jazz is about infusing the music with a jazz sensibility - its structure, its swing - which implies that the musicians can spontaneously engage in musical conversations together at a very high level, exploring new horizons.
The music of Roots United provides a promising outlook for the sometimes under-investigated Latin Jazz genre and proves that it possesses a level of energy unlike any other music. There is something about its rhythms and dramatic gestures that makes audiences become intensely involved. It is a fresh approach, which promises both a delightful listening experience and exciting intellectual stimulation. The rhythms of Latin Jazz move the music in a way that energizes and loosens up audiences, thanks to the fact that they contain the essence of dance, from which the essence of this music springs.
It is an undeniable fact that the seven members of this group, who are originally from Venezuela, Holland, Ukraine, Uruguay, Cuba and Puerto Rico, have had the liberty to approach and interpret the music in their own way; this is why the group has attained such an original sound. Their music is dedicated to legendary Latin and jazz masters including Miles Davis, Chucho Valdez, John Coltrane, Jerry & Andy Gonzales, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Eddie Palmieri, Afrocuba, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, and Cal Tjader.
