The US-based Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez, who is now also artistic director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston, is to release his latest album titled Providencia as a leader, now confirmed for release in the UK on 27 September. The album, his debut for Mack Avenue records, could be one of the key releases of the autumn if the evidence of one of the tracks ‘The Oracle – Dedicated to Charles Banacos’ is anything to go by.

The track is a tribute to the late Mr Banacos, a New England Conservatory teacher who also taught at Berklee and was one of Perez’s teachers and mentors, and who died last year. “He was a visionary, an educator ahead of his time,” says Perez. The ballad, after a short opening by Perez, features the yearning alto saxophone of Rudresh Mahanthappa, alongside bassist Ben Street and drummer Adam Cruz who both feature on Perez’s albums Live at the Jazz Showcase (2005) and Till Then. Other musicians on the album include Lebanese-American percussionist Jamey Haddad, Colombian conga player Ernesto Diaz, Portuguese vocalist Sara Serpa and a Boston-based woodwind quintet.

Danilo Perez debuted as a leader in the early-1990s with a critically acclaimed eponymous album that featured Puerto Rican saxophonist David Sánchez and legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette among others. Perez became a member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet (which also includes bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade) 10 years ago. Their most recent album together was the live album Beyond the Sound Barrier released in 2005.

As for the new album, “the word ‘providence’, for me,” says Perez, “means standing up for the future of the next generation of children,” referring to the title of the album which opens with ‘Daniela’s Chronicles’, a five-movement piece, each written in honour of one year in his eldest daughter’s life. Other track titles include ‘Cobilla’, ‘Galactic Panama’ (featuring tamborito-type Panamanian dance rhythms) and a two-part chamber piece for woodwind quintet and the trio called ‘Bridge of Life’. Providencia also features tracks by Panamanian composers Carlos Eleta Almaran and Avelino Muñoz.

– Stephen Graham