The Set is a Story: Lolivone de la Rosa Speaks

Photo courtesy of the artist.

by Sarah Thomas

A native of Puerto Rico, guitarist Lolivone de la Rosa studied at the Berklee College of Music before moving to New York in spring 2021. She’s worked for Terri Lynne Carrington’s Next Jazz Legacy program and current holds down a regular residency at Cafe Mezcal on the Lower East Side. This week, de la Rosa makes her Jazz Gallery debut with her working organ quartet featuring organist Brian Charette, saxophonist Ned Goold, and drummer Samuël Bolduc before they head into the studio to record their debut album. We at Jazz Speaks caught up with de la Rosa to talk about the ideas of storytelling and respecting musical traditions.

TJG: You're recording an album soon! Tell me more about that project.

Lolivone de la Rosa: It's my debut album, so I’m pretty excited about that. I love working with a band that challenges me but also supports me. That’s why I'm very happy to have Brian Charette on the Hammond organ; Ned Goold, who is a veteran saxophone player; and Juan Chiavassa, who is my friend from when I was in school at Berklee, on drums. I wanted to combine veterans and emerging artists for this project.

This is a project where I'm gathering my influences. I'm writing tunes based on music that I've learned throughout the years from my heroes—making decisions based on their stylistic approach. This includes a tune called PB & J, and it's a tribute to Peter Bernstein. He’s one of my guitar heroes. It’s based off of a song he wrote for his dog called “Bones.” 

In this album you will also hear my influences from the folkloric music of Puerto Rico, where I grew up, especially in the harmonic decisions I make. I'm actually still writing music for the album, so there are going to be some more tunes between now and when we record.

TJG: How have you been thinking about programming for the album, especially when considering how the standards and originals fit together?

LD: That's a very interesting question. I love making a set list that feels like we've traveled from the 1920s to the present. There’s a clear timeline: Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rafael Hernández Marín, Pedro Flores, George Gershwin, Mary Lou Williams, Bird, Monk, Carla Bley, Joe Henderson, Geri Allen, Jobim, Papo Lucca—and we arrive at new songs written in these times. 

I’m always thinking about the whole picture, not only the song itself. How can I tell a story throughout the whole concert or the whole album? So at this point in my life, since it’s a debut album, I am focused on the storytelling aspect of it, saying, “This is where I've been gathering information from, these are my heroes, these are the songs that I grew up listening to, and here is my own take on that.” 

This feels like a safe point of departure for me. From there, I'm taking off. Maybe I’m doing other stuff that’s similar to this, or exploring other things. Who knows? But I want this album to represent where I'm at right now in 2023 and what I’ve been listening to since I was born 29 years ago. This is me.

TJG: Do you have any specific writing goals or processes as you get into this album?

LD: I do. For example, right now I’m writing a tune where I want a Monk-ish vibe. So I'm respecting the harmonic and melodic concepts that made Monk unique. Although I could get creative and search for other harmonic paths, I want the song to respect Monk’s style of writing. I want to stay within a certain period of time.

TJG: You have certain parameters, not in a limiting way but in a way that helps you focus.

LD: Exactly. Certain parameters that do not limit me, but make me focus on what type of music I want to write. Otherwise, one can easily get overwhelmed by the amount of options one has. There are so many voicings that fit a melody. I usually find myself deleting half the things I write in a chart. It’s a buffet of chords that sometimes feels forced instead of having a natural flow. 

TJG: How did you come to this particular instrumentation for your quartet?

LD: My heroes for a long, long time were the Peter Bernstein Organ Trio with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart. I had their records on rotation nonstop. That's when I started believing, “I want to sound like this.” By falling in love with that trio, I just wanted to sound like them. 

Before listening to Peter Bernstein’s trio, I didn't actually like the organ sound. But that changed after listening to them, and how tastefully they write music, and how the organ allows the guitar player to comp in a very different way than if it were with a piano and bass player. When an organ is playing bass in the left hand and lines in the right hand, there's space for the guitar to comp. So I wanted that liberty.

Also the timbre of an organ and the way they use the pedal and the Leslie to create texture—I like the amount of space but also intensity that can be created.

With this group, I’m adding a tenor saxophone because I love Art Blakey and the Messengers’ sound. Sometimes I think of the guitar as another horn when I’m writing music for my band—either doubling melodies with Ned or creating harmonies.

TJG: What made you want to do a show leading up to your recording?

LD: I was talking to Rio, and she suggested a pre-recording concert. And that’s absolutely brilliant, because I’m still writing tunes. It's an opportunity for me to try them before I go record. It's not the same rehearsing them as playing them for an audience and feeling the vibe of the song in a performance space. I can also hear back and see what works and what doesn’t. Hopefully it all works, but sometimes we change some things here and there.

TJG: You talked a lot about storytelling in this recording. Do you have the same mindset about the story going into the performance?

LD: I like to create a set list that tells a story. I don't like to play tunes just to play tunes. That's what jam sessions are for. I like to have a variation of rhythms, styles, and influences, so that when someone goes to a show they can tell, “This is Lolivone. This is her music. This is where she grew up and what she grew up listening to. I can tell who she is listening to now.” So again, that storytelling concept is very important to me.

TJG: Do you have other projects going on that you want people to know about?

LD: I have a duo project with Ned Goold, who's the saxophone player of the band. What we do is revisit very old standards that don’t get played often. It's a set of standards that were played years and years ago, and have a lot of classical music influence. So we're revisiting those tunes that he carries in a huge folder. 

It also helps me explore new ways of accompanying a saxophone player, which is challenging. It’s as challenging as it is to comp for a singer. If you don't have another harmonic instrument in the ensemble, it's very challenging—especially if you don't have a bass player either. It’s a project I love because it challenges me, and I feel free to think outside the box with Ned because he is so creative and unique.

I feel like I've grown so much learning from Ned. He shares tunes with me, I learn them, and it opens my mind to hear new forms, new structures, new ways of creating music. It’s a mentorship type of relationship that we have, and I take full advantage of it. It's mostly me soaking in all the experiences that Ned has lived. There’s a generational gap there that I'm happy about, because I explore so much from his point of view. So it's very interesting to me.

Lolivone de la Rosa plays The Jazz Gallery on Wednesday, February 22. The group features Lolivone de la Rosa on guitar, Brian Charette on organ, Ned Goold on tenor sax, and Samuël Bolduc on drums. Sets are at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. ET. $20 general admission (FREE for members), $30 cabaret seating ($20 for members), $20 Livestream (FREE for members). Purchase tickets here.