Gabriel Garzón Montano: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Bobby Carter, May 26, 2017 I was, admittedly, thrown for a loop when Gabriel GarzónMontano told me that he wanted to perform unaccompanied, just him and a piano. The meticulousness of his work is clear on his debut album, Jardin, a threeyear creative process in which Gabriel plays most of the instruments, tracking them to twoinch tape, layering its overall sound. Jardin takes its title as an umbrella; fruits, bugs and other plants are the driving metaphors tying together this dense work, which blooms over successive listens. GarzónMontano doesn t necessarily wear his heart on his sleeve he forces you to listen and peel the layers back. GarzónMontano s career trajectory veers wide living with Philip Glass for a year while his late mother played in the composer s ensemble, sitting under the minimal maestro s piano as he practiced; Lenny Kravitz making possible his first tour experience; while Drake exposed Gabriel s sound to the masses. That decision to go it alone at the Tiny Desk made sense, tho