Flores Para Verene / Cantos Para Caramina

Flores para Verene ("Flowers for Verene") brings together solo clarinet-and-trumpet versions of compositions by Tomin's musical paragons - Mingus, Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Albert Ayler, Eddie Gale, among others. They were recorded to honour his life's great hero, his maternal grandmother, Virlenice Diaz Valencia, who'd passed away in late 2019 in her native Colombia. (Tomin's liner notes express the love the two had for one another with an exceptional clarity.) These versions are miniatures-short-length, layered constructions offering little more than the song's theme, in lo-fi recordings that embrace the click of the clarinet keys-yet full-hearted in their intimacy. As with all the best sounds, laughter and tears are on equal footing here.