Tomin: Flores Para Verene / Cantos Para Caramina (Vinyl LP)

Flores para Verene (Flowers for Verene) brings together solo clarinet-and-trumpet versions of compositions by Tomin's musical paragons - Mingus, Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Albert Ayler, Eddie Gale, among others. They were recorded to honour his life's great hero, his maternal grandmother, Virlenice Diaz Valencia, who'd passed away in late 2019 in her native Colombia. (Tomin's liner notes express the love the two had for one another with an exceptional clarity.) These versions are miniatures-short-length, layered constructions offering little more than the song's theme, in lo-fi recordings that embrace the click of the clarinet keys-yet full-hearted in their intimacy. As with all the best sounds, laughter and tears are on equal footing here. Father and Son (for Cal Massey), Come Sunday Bass (for Ellington and Dolphy), The Inflated Tear v1 (for Rahsaan Roland Kirk), Fire Waltz (for Waldron Dolphy and Little), Desert Fairy Princess (for Sharps Sebastian and P.A.P.A.), Fables of Faubus (for Mingus and Richmond), Aquarius (for J.J. Johnson), Warm Canto (for Waldron and Dolphy), The Inflated Tear v2 (for Rahsaan Roland Kirk), Come Sunday Soprano (for Ellington and Dolphy), Assunta (for Cal Massey), Father and Son (for Cal Massey) [Alt. Take], Spirits Rejoice (for Albert Ayler), Ogún Bára, Angela's Angel, Naima, The Prayer, Rahsaan Is Beautiful, A Walk With Thee, Humility In The Light Of The Creator, Love, Life, Love (Alternate Take), Life Revisited