Video Premiere: Jorge Roeder’s “I’ll Remember April”
Jorge Roeder is releasing his debut solo album, El Suelo Mio, on July 3rd and today we’re proud to premiere this performance for “I’ll Remember April.” The track stands as the only jazz standard on the solo bass effort, which is an extremely thoughtful and moving record reflecting on his Peruvian heritage and life as a jazz musician in New York.
“It’s a slightly complicated relationship I have with my country of origin,” Roeder admits. “My family is there, my friends are there, and I have amazing memories from there. At the same time, it’s a place where I had to struggle a lot to become a musician and I realized I couldn’t have a career there. Looking back, I had an ambition to be the best that I could be and being in Peru wasn’t letting me. I had advice from several musicians there that I reached as far as I could there and I should leave. That’s an unfortunate feeling to have. When I approached the album, I bring this mixed feeling of love and longing, but also not being able to thrive there.”
Many of Roeder’s compositions for the record use phrases and quotes from popular Latin tunes as a jumping off point. “Some of them were pre-planned and some others just happened. There’s a Cuban song I quote in ‘I’ll Remember April’ that just popped out,” the bassist says. “It’s a song I’ve always loved playing. I’ve practiced many songs There are choice tunes that I go to for working things out on the bass, and ‘I’ll Remember April’ is one of them. I’ve practiced it so much that I feel comfortable in it. That particular song had a meaning in the album for me.”
The song is the perfect vehicle to display Roeder’s amazing sense of rhythm and melody. He utilizes double and triple stops to fill out the harmony in addition to his blazing lines the run the length of the fingerboard. Check out the video, and then check out the Spotify playlist he created of songs that inspired El Suelo Mio below.
El Suelo Mio will be available July 3rd via Bandcamp, iTunes, and Google Play.
