Latin Jazz Flutist Yulia Musayelyan Debuts with Intercontinental Sounds

Armenian latin jazz flutist Yulia Musayelyan from Moscow, Russia, improvises and grooves fluently on her debut album, Caminos. The album features pianist Vardan Ovsepian, and an Argentinian rhythm section from New York, Fernando Huergo on bass and Franco Pinna on drums. Musayelyan's original compositions are primarily of South American character in rhythm, harmonically they suggest Russian and Eastern European moods. She features traditionals from Armenia, which work well for her as flutist. Musayelyan's sound is beautiful and classically trained, no trace of the "multi-reed syndrome" can be detected as with so many jazz musicians these days. Her soloing is straightforward, fairly simple and effective, not twisted by jazz historical banalities. This is primarily a leader and flute solo demonstration with interactive rhythm section participation, and for a debut album, Caminos demonstrates promise and fresh expression. Musayelyan is featured on several albums as sideman, those with Marta Gomez, Fernando Huergo, Grupo Nuevo and Julio Santillán are the most significant ones. An enjoyable introduction by a new artist on the scene.