Steeped in world rhythms, Ethan Margolis delivers an innovative and highly conversational sonic approach for acoustic guitar.
Courtesy of DL Media
World-traversed guitarist Ethan Margolis, aka “Emaginario,” is a prime example of an artist who has willingly committed himself to the demands of achieving a seamless and authentic cross-cultural musical dialogue. His guitar compositions reflect a deep understanding of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Roma (or Gitano) stylings, brought about by a 24-year long mentorship within Spain’s Roma community. A modal core of harmony permeates his playing style as well as allowing for an open and creative dialogue between the guitar and drums.
Evidence of his unique style can be heard coming to fruition on his forthcoming album, Interlude of the Duende, in trio form with jazz masters Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland, set for July 19 release on Ropeadope Records.
Duende, the Spanish word in the title, has been called “a heightened state of emotional expression” that occurs when a musical gathering is visited by an elusive gnome-like musical spirit. An Interlude is “the pause between the acts of a play.” On this recording, the title appropriately reflects the improvisational, stream-of-consciousness nature of Margolis’s guitar work. The drums of Eric Harland provide a tribal-sounding, percussive backing to Margolis’s dialogue and together they appear to invite the presence of the duende. Additional poetry and vocals by Margolis set the scene for the ceremonial-like invitation that the music proposes.
“Initially I wrote the compositions for my style of guitar playing and out of my love for roots-based genres,” Margolis says of Interlude of the Duende. “I had full ideas for congas, bongo, batá, claps and shakers in these compositions that were then translated to the drums. Eric Harland and Larry Grenadier worked hard with me to harness the ceremonial essence of the album and of the sketch-like compositions. The idea was to a create a unique sound between the trio that did not suppose grandiose compositions, rather an open and free listening environment. The occasional presence of vocals were designed to serve as a type of ceremonial human guide throughout the album’s discourse.”
Of the upright bass aspects and Grenadier’s participation, Margolis says, “Larry played with a masterful accompanist-mentality staying ‘out of the way’ of the guitar very naturally but at the same time keeping the groove moving forward as needed — check out ‘Solace and Descent’ as a reference to this. He also plays some really special stuff on ‘Continuance’ and ‘A Beating Heart.’”
Margolis wrote out much of the rhythmic design of the album to create a strong foundation for his message. Through each piece Margolis reflects upon his mentors and life experience, and the rhythms within speak to his learnings. The album’s production sound is also quite strong. It is clear that the three musicians placed significant effort upon allowing for a free, unobtrusive space for the acoustic guitar to shine. Margolis plays with powerful character that is unnerved by the potential obstacles that could come from an acoustic guitar trio backed by a less-seasoned drummer than Harland.
“I am extremely sensitive to the frequency clashes between acoustic guitars, cymbals and upright basses, so understanding where the drums and bass might play is an important aspect to my comfort zone as an improviser,” Margolis says. “The tunings and keys were deliberate compositional tools to highlight the acoustic guitar as a world jazz instrument and I wanted to play equal parts ‘finger style’ as well as ‘picking.’”
Illustrating the diverse reach of his musical impulses, Margolis initially ventured into his debut “world jazz” album, Soleángeles, in 2014, during a period of live activity at venerated Los Angeles jazz venues The Blue Whale and The Baked Potato. From another hybridized corner of his musical mind comes the 2015 album Sonikete Blues. Recorded both in Spain and the USA, that album proposed an inventive merging of flamenco and Delta blues—idioms with more emotional and fringe socio-cultural connections than might be expected. Following these two albums would be a 2016 EP and video release of Speakeasy Session alongside Miles Davis’s alumni pianist, Deron Johnson, the 2020 electronic jazz EP, Arsa 100, with pianist, Chano Domínguez, a 2022 piano and voice duo EP with Cuban virtuoso pianist, Caramelo de Cuba, En Madrid, and lastly a 2023 full length release of his original songs, Songs of Mind which garnered an editor’s choice selection from JAZZIZ and a ‘best of the rest of 2023’ write-up from Goldmine magazine.
Entrenched by now in his still-maturing musical saga, Margolis continues the process of finding surprising–yet also logical–connections in the many strands of his musical life’s tapestry. He is an artist firmly in sync with an era of redefining of musical identities, in flamenco, jazz and other formerly fixed musical genres. In effect, Margolis has found himself in both the roots and various offshoots, and his own links thereof, within the music world.
Margolis is also an arranger and guitarist on pianist Chano Dominiguez’s forthcoming album.