A native of Mexico, where as a young man he encountered and became friends with American marverick Conlon Nancarrow, Ernesto Martinez has been sculpting remarkably original polyrhythmic compositions for well over a decade. Inspired equally by Balinese Gamelan techniques, the player piano masterworks of Nancarrow, and Mexican folk traditions, Ernesto Martinez and his group Micro-ritmia blends complex and virtuosic hocketing techniques, meticulously performed on a combination of piano, marimba and altered guitars, with a striking sense of drama. Tzadik is proud to present the first recordings outside Mexico of this iconoclastic composer.
