JULIETA EUGENIO EXPANDS HER DCJAZZPRIX-WINNING TRIO WITH PIANIST GLENN ZALESKI ON MI BOATHOUSE, OUT OCTOBER 2 ON DOX RECORDS
THE ARGENTINA-BORN, NEW YORK-BASED TENOR SAXOPHONIST, COMPOSER AND BANDLEADER WRITES FOR PIANO, PEDALS AND LONGTIME BANDMATES MATT DWONSZYK AND JONATHAN BARBER
RECORDED AT SECOND TAKE SOUND STUDIOS IN MANHATTAN, MI BOATHOUSE FEATURES NINE EUGENIO ORIGINALS AND OTIS RENE’S “I’M LOST”
ALBUM-RELEASE SHOW OCTOBER 2 AT THE JAZZ GALLERY, PLUS NEW YORK DATES AT SMALLS AND BAR BAYEUX
Mi Boathouse, the new album by Argentina-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist, composer and bandleader Julieta Eugenio, will be released October 2 on Dox Records. Produced by Eugenio and recorded at Second Take Sound Studios in Manhattan, the album features Eugenio on tenor saxophone and pedals, Matt Dwonszyk on bass, Jonathan Barber on drums and Glenn Zaleski on piano. The program includes nine Eugenio originals and closes with Otis Rene’s “I’m Lost.”
A poem written by Eugenio for the project reads : “a boathouse made of feelings, experiences, many stories, my story,”. Each of her song titles here is a piece of that imagery: trees, breath, wind, bees, healing and time.
“The album speaks to the process of finding a space of peace within myself and within this world,” Eugenio says. “When the chaos of the world becomes all-consuming, I seek this place — a bubble wrapped in time and space, where music flows in and out, where pain dissolves with nature’s breath, and where a melody can carry me somewhere within this dimension. I call this sacred space Mi Boathouse.”
Eugenio is joined by three profound musical voices on the New York scene. Dwonszyk, a Connecticut-born, New York-based bassist, composer and bandleader, has worked with Eddie Henderson, Steve Davis, George Cables, Harold Mabern and Jazzmeia Horn, and leads his own ensemble, the Dwonztet.
Barber, a drummer, composer and bandleader known for his group Vision Ahead, was named the No. 1 Up-and-Coming Drummer in the 2018 Modern Drummer Readers Poll, and his credits include Pat Metheny, Terence Blanchard, Christian McBride, Erykah Badu and Nicholas Payton.
Zaleski, a Brooklyn-based pianist, composer and bandleader, has worked with Ravi Coltrane, Ari Hoenig, Lage Lund, Ben Van Gelder and Melissa Aldana, and his leader and co-leader albums include Anticipation, Limitless, My Ideal, Fellowship, The Question and Star Dreams.
Eugenio grew up in Argentina, studied at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory for Jazz Performance, moved to New York in 2013 and earned a master’s degree in jazz at Queens College. Since then, she has performed with artists including Johnny O’Neal, Eric Reed, Leo Genovese, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Pasquale Grasso and Bertha Hope, and has appeared at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s, Smalls, the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, the Washington DC Jazz Festival and the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival.
Jump, Eugenio’s 2022 Greenleaf Music debut, put her tenor-bass-drums format on record; the Julieta Eugenio Trio won the 2022 DCJazzPrix that same year. Stay, her 2024 follow-up Independent Release, kept Dwonszyk and Barber in place and brought Genovese’s Rhodes into selected pieces.
On Mi Boathouse, Eugenio expands that band with Zaleski. “I started writing more for piano,” she says. “That led me to explore more contrapuntal lines between the instruments, as well as different colors and textures. I also wanted to give the music more space to breathe and develop, and to let it unfold through a wider range of textures.”
Zaleski first entered Eugenio’s orbit during the release cycle for Stay, when she invited him to play the Rhodes pieces at the album-release show. The quartet crystallized from there. “The trio is very tight,” Eugenio says. “We’ve known each other for so long, and it’s been beautiful to hear that musical connection continue to grow. Adding Glenn has been really fun. I felt like he understood the whole concept of space, and of finding each other inside the tune. I always felt very comfortable playing with him, and he connected so well with the trio.”
Eugenio brings in the music, talks through the specifics, then leaves room for the band. “Whenever I bring in new music, I usually talk through the specifics of the tunes and then let them work their own magic on it,” she says. “I have a great deal of trust in each of their musicianship, and I enjoy being surprised by how they interpret and play the music. I’m always open to suggestions and prefer to make it a truly collaborative experience.”
“This is the third album I’ve recorded with the trio,” Eugenio continues. “We’ve been growing together musically and personally for almost a decade. Their creativity continues to amaze me and inspire me throughout the process.”
The album’s three pedal pieces grew from Eugenio’s solo compositional method. “Everything begins with me sitting with my saxophone, taking a deep breath, and letting go,” she says. “I become a vessel, allowing melodies to flow through me and reveal themselves in their own time.” Pedals became a composing tool: creating bass lines, recording them, playing over them, building counterpoint and reharmonizing melodies. “I started playing with melodies and reharmonizing them,” she says. “There was something about it that I loved.”
Across Mi Boathouse, the saxophone melodies carry the listener through what Eugenio calls “an ocean of rising and falling waves,” while the other instruments move around them and find each other along the way.
“Mantra” and “Mi Boathouse” are the album’s suite-like centerpieces. “They both embody the message of this album,” Eugenio says. “They tell stories, navigating the waves, the highs and lows, the moments of separation and reunion, and ultimately surrendering to the rhythm of what is.
“A Talk with the Trees” comes from a walk in Prospect Park. “One day, during a routine walk in my backyard, Prospect Park, I looked up at the sky through a canopy of trees,” Eugenio says. “They moved gently, whispering to me, dancing with the wind. It brought me to a standstill. We began a conversation. I was a tree among them.”
“Just as a boathouse protects a vessel from the elements,” Eugenio explains in the album’s liner notes, “Mi Boathouse protects the self. It’s a place where the soul can rest, heal and prepare for whatever comes next.”
Tracklisting
- Tree Breath
- Brisa
- A Talk with the Trees
- Mantra
- Hurtwave
- The Bee
- Mi Boathouse
- Healing
- The Heart’s Time
- I’m Lost
Album release shows in NYC
October 2nd at Jazz Gallery
October 7th at Smalls Jazz Club
October 9th at Bar Bayeux