This week’s conversation with Cochemea Gastelum brings our season to a close. The saxophonist and bandleader joins us to discuss his beautiful LP Ancestros Futuros, out now on Daptone Records. Mining his Indigenous roots, soul jazz, and funk, it’s a fantastic album, and it completes a trilogy that began with 2019’s All My Relations, continued with 2021’s Baca Sewa, and now concludes.
Category: Cochemea
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Cochemea
Cochemea Gastelum returns with his second Lagniappe entry following up his session from 2021 covering Big Star and the legendary Cuban band, Irakere. This latest installment finds the NYC based multi-instrumentalist and arranger on the heels of his third LP, Ancestros Futuros, released last month via Daptone Records. For his encore session, Gastelum pays tribute to his southern California roots covering War’s “All Day Music,” and Flip Your Wig era Hüsker Dü.
Cochemea :: Vol. 3: Ancestros Futuros
Multi-instrumentalist Cochemea Gastelum wraps up his trilogy of albums exploring his tribal roots by looking ahead. Though he doesn’t jettison the non-Western traditions that informed his earlier two records entirely, his relies more on the present as a way to see into the realm of future days. Full of tribal rhythms pulled from pre-Colonial North and South American civilizations as well as urbane midcentury jazz and ‘70s soul, Ancestros Futuros creates a bold new world in which some things never change.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Cochemea
Cochemea’s latest, Vol. 11 Baca Sewa, plays like a cosmic funk and spiritual jazz ancestral trip through time. For his first ever Lagniappe Session, Cochemea interprets Big Star’s “Kanga Roo” and Irakere’s “Danza Nañigo.”
Cochemea: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
On All My Relations, Cochemea Gastelum’s second solo album and first for Daptone Records, the saxophonist offers up a globetrotting swath of sounds, soul music of varying genres. Funk, R&B, Latin jazz, Indigenous chants and stomps, Morrocan Gnawa, cosmic jazz—leading his combo of Daptone stalwarts, Gastelum melds together elements of each to form a multi-faceted, spiritually cohesive tapestry.