BRATTLEBORO — Miguel Zenón is much more than a superb alto jazz saxophonist.
He is a jazz innovator who forges new musical ground with his own quartet and through his creative contributions as a founding member of the renowned SFJAZZ Collective.
He is a dedicated educator who has traveled to far reaches abroad with his quartet, teaching, performing and sharing his extensive knowledge of the genre.
And Zenón is increasingly an ambassador of jazz, particularly of the flavors originating in his homeland of Puerto Rico - musica jíbara, plena, and other styles of Latin American origin.
The Vermont Jazz Center (VJC) will present the Miguel Zenón Quartet on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 8 p.m., at the center, 72 Cotton Mill Hill, as part of the yearlong series of concerts featuring international jazz stalwarts.
So many awards and honors have been heaped on Zenón in his career it's difficult to keep up - MacArthur (“Genius Grant”) Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, multiple Grammy Award nominee, Jazz Times magazine's Best New Artist of the Year, four times top Rising Star in the Downbeat Critic's Poll.
Zenón's debut album, Looking Forward, was selected by The New York Times as the number-one independent jazz record of 2002.
Regardless of the numerous accolades that continue to season Zenón's young career, he doesn't wander too far from his roots.
In 2005, Zenón released his third album, Jíbaro, a tribute to the Música Jíbara of Puerto Rico. Like his previous albums, he garnered widespread critical acclaim for the collection.
Esta Plena, his fifth release as a leader, melds components of jazz with plena, a traditional music of his homeland. His 2011 album Alma Adentro is a tribute to the Puerto Rican Songbook.
While dividing his time between an annual two-month residence with the SFJAZZ Collective, and as a member of the jazz faculty at the New England Conservatory as well as a saxophone instructor at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, Zenón performs extensively during the year and has appeared with an impressive list of jazz greats: Bobby Hutcherson, Charlie Haden, David Sanchez, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, Bob Moses, and Mozamba and the Mingus Big Band, to name a few.
Supporting Zenón's alto saxophone in the VJC concert will be Luis Perdomo, piano; Hans Glawischnig, bass; and Henry Cole, drums.
Like Zenón, Perdomo, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, explores and blends a range of musical styles and has become an in-demand pianist, having performed with Ravi Coltrane, John Patitucci, Ray Barretto, Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project, and many others, while releasing four highly acclaimed albums.
Glawischnig, originally from Austria, brings a rounded approach to jazz, with stints of playing with Maynard Ferguson's Big Bop Nouveau, Bobby Watson's Urban Renewal band, Ray Barretto's renowned New World Spirit ensemble, and David Sanchez's Melaza Sextet, and others.
Henry Cole has played a leading role in the growing movement of jazz innovation and cross-cultural musical convergence in the 21st century. A fellow Puerto Rico native, Cole has performed with Danilo Perez, Jerry Gonzalez, Branford Marsalis, and many more.
Tickets for the Miguel Zenón Quartet at VJC are $20 ($15 for students with I.D.; contact VJC about educational discounts). They are available at In the Moment in Brattleboro, or online.
Tickets can also be reserved by calling the Vermont Jazz Center ticket line, 802-254-9088, ext. 1.