Openness Trio marks the first major release for the small group of L.A. musicians Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson and Carlos Niño, as well as a significant milepost for the drifty, electronics-infused style of jazz they favor, appearing on the storied Blue Note label, once a haven of the old guard. Meditative, vibrant and lush, Openness Trio reenvisions the crystalline perfume of West Coast New Age not as daffy escapism but as the transcendental successor to avant-garde spiritual jazz. Equal parts incense and neon, it’s a testament to a place and a sound that sees the geographic and sonic realms as eternally impermanent and always incomplete.
Category: Carlos Niño
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Carlos Niño & Friends
Carlos Niño picks up on frequencies. In return, he transmits them back out into the universe. He’s built a vast body of work via radio broadcasts, intergalactic jams, and completely free sonic excursions. Openness requires listening, and Niño is an expert listener. “Frequently, I would say I’m doing some version of supercomputing, where I’m completely free in the moment and I’m also bookmarking sections I know I want to get back to,” he told us when he was a guest on our Transmissions podcast. For his first Lagniappe Session, he turns his ear to music by his friends and collaborators, Iasos and Laraaji, plus Pharoah Sanders and Joe Bonner.
Transmissions :: Carlos Niño
This week on Transmissions, a heady conversation with Carlos Niño about spontaneous composition, the influence of hip-hop culture on his work, his radio roots, and his latest, More Energy Fields, Current. “…Frequently, I would say I’m doing some version of super-computing, where I’m completely free in the moment and I’m also bookmarking sections I know I want to get back to.” From his days at dublab to his partnerships with artists like Laraaji and Iasos and much more, we’re glad to have Niño on.