"A saxophonist of impeccable musicianship." - Chicago Jazz Magazine

Tenor and soprano saxophonist Alex Beltran has been a fixture on the Chicago scene and beyond for over a decade, sharing the stage with artists ranging from Phil Woods to Aretha Franklin as well as bringing his joyful sound and infectious energy to the collaborative Merge Quintet and numerous other ensembles. On his Calligram debut Rift, Beltran draws deeply on his Mexican-American heritage to create his most personal statement to date. Joined by his regular quartet of Chicago stalwarts Stu Mindeman (piano), Sam Peters (bass), and Jon Deitemyer (drums) as well as guest artists Lenard Simpson (alto saxophone) and Chad McCullough (trumpet), Beltran weaves a narrative of identity disrupted and reconstructed through seven originals and a cover of Sylvan Esso’s “Frequency.”

Alex Beltran’s story is quintessentially American. “I’m a person of mixed culture,” relates Beltran, “and there was a pretty big divide between the two worlds I lived in growing up: my dad’s working class Latino family in Pilsen and the white Northshore upper crust of my mom’s family. I never felt like I fit into either. I was the white cousin at my dad’s, the Mexican cousin at my mom’s.”

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Beltran launches the album on an upbeat, optimistic note with “Lulu,” a lyrical and swinging portrait of his young niece. “My hope is that her experience will be different from mine, that she is able to embrace who she is,” says Beltran. The quartet demonstrates their effortless connection right out of the gate, relaxed and swinging individually and as a unit throughout.

Several of the tunes here, including the title track, allude unambiguously to Beltran’s feelings of being divided and pulled apart by his two worlds. After a contemplative solo piano intro from Mindeman, “Rift” shifts gears abruptly into a bright odd meter groove featuring an intense, slow-burn solo from Beltran. Building to a searing peak with the leader, Deitemyer takes the reins and steers the tune to an ending that avoids easy answers in favor of a more subtle coda.

With its dissonant cross-rhythms and blazing tempo, “Fragments” offers another view of the composer’s internal struggle. Mindeman delivers a solo that is equal parts fire and surgical precision, setting the stage for a heated exchange between Beltran and alto saxophonist Lenard Simpson that gradually breaks down into the fragments of the title.

“Bird Dance” is a blues with an “off-kilter melody that never really settles rhythmically,” relates Beltran. “I wanted to express the awkward dance of shuttling between my two cultures growing up, hiding out as successfully as a flamingo in a flock of storks.” Off-kilter or not, Simpson, Beltran and Peters evince no awkwardness here, each taking a surefooted turn on the slippery blues.

Trumpeter Chad McCullough, who also co-produced the session, joins the core quartet for two numbers, “Frequency” and “Jay.” The former is the one cover on the album, a reimagining of a piece by electronic pop duo Sylvan Esso. Beltran showcases Mindeman on the Wurlitzer here as well as McCullough’s lovely, vocal trumpet sound, lending the track an ethereal quality evocative of yet distinct from the source material.

Reflecting on his process and growth as an artist over the last several years, Beltran states that “for a long time, I shaped my identity around what I did- music- rather than who I was culturally. In the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown I realized I had to grapple with my cultural identity.” With Rift, Beltran shares the fruits of that struggle, embracing the diverse facets of his identity to offer the listener a rich and intensely personal insight into his human experience.