MUSIC SIN FRONTERAS 2.15.26

Saxophonist Chuco Soto releases A Blue Moment experimental jazz project

Eleazar “Chuco” Soto is an experimental jazz saxophonist, composer, producer, and empresario based in the Lake Chapala area of Mexico, near Guadalajara.  For as long as I have known him, he and his long-time music partner, Gilberto Rios, have produced a particular style of experimental jazz that is both soothing and high-energy.  They play a full range of jazz and music, from rock to salsa and even musicals, flamenco,  and mariachi.  This has given them a “broad ear” – they understand many musical forms and how to blend them and adapt them into musical adventures.

Soto has multiple tracks and projects on SoundCloud and Bandcamp under his own name (for example,  “Healing Power,” “Blanco Y Negro,” “Adam’s Apple”), but none are positioned as full-length albums, indexed and categorized as such.​

El Instante Azul (The Blue Moment ) is definitely a full-length album, and one that utilizes his unique style to take the listener on a musical adventure through calming valleys, discordant rainfalls, and blue skies He has teamed up with his musical partner Gil Rios (double bass),  Lucas Martínez (saxophone), Sebastián Domínguez (guitar), and Pablo Loaiza (drums) to produce 35 and half minutes of music spread over five songs that ca while away your afternoon or background your night.

“Triste Mangolancolía”, written by Pablo Loaiza, stretches over 7  minutes, with Soto’s and  Lucas Martínez’s saxophones harmonizing to create a blue horizon, moved gently along by Loaiza’s subtle, Latin-infused drumming. But about halfway through the song, Loaiza picks up the pace,  with multiple hits and cymbal licks breaking up the smooth Latin movement. This blends into a saxophone wake-up call with seemingly random notes from all the instruments that inject energy into the music, and then settle back down.

“Todo Pasa por Algo” is a complete shift of mood, if not pace.  Written by guitarist Sebastián Domínguez, his fingerprints, so to speak, are all through the song, and guitar notes define the piece.  Rios steps in from time to time with bass solo riffs, shifting the tone, but not the through line. As always, the saxophones are the major color in the rainbow. But Dominquez’s guitar is never very far from the center of the song and at times is the song.  All this while Loaiza hits the skins and cymbals in seemingly his own world, but softly, so it scaffolds the music but does not detour it.

“Metrope”, 8 minutes,  written by Soto, is an ode to the sax, which carries the adventure along, joined at times by  Martínez for a second level.  Drums move like they are searching, or grazing, here, there, everywhere. but aways pulled down, so they build the background, along with Rios on the double bass.  Accents and riffs by Domínguez add touches of color, like we are going through a different door and then out into the same landscape.

“Natki”, written by Gilberto Rios, is a short six minutes, but goes many places.  Opening with bass noes and Rios’ bellowed sound effects, it meanders with the saxophones, takes a sharp turn with the guitar, and then settles down into a groove – until the sound effects, like little birds, re-emerge from the background and tickle your ears. 

“La Cochera”, written by Sebastian Dominguez and named after the music, dance, and art culture center where Sot was in residence and provided sound engineering off stage and saxophone jazz concerts on stage, is a flowing blend of the two saxophones and Dominguez’s romantic, almost Spanish guitar.  Not to rest on its heels, it ends with a side trip into a discordant riff, where the musicians just can’t hold themselves back.

El Instante Azul positions itself as “the first glimpse into the essence and identity of five musicians from different parts of the world who share the common ground of jazz, improvisation, and creative freedom.”  It does that and more.  It is intuitive, evocative, and showcases the depth that authentic collaboration can bring forth.  If you are a jazz fan, add this to your collection.  If not, give it a listen…it may convert you.