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XAVI REIJA

Jazz Rock/Fusion • Spain


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Xavi Reija biography
Born June 16, 1972 (Barcelona, Spain)

Xavi REIJA is a Spanish drummer born in 1972 in Barcelona. He began his musical studies at the age of 19 and finished among others Berklee College of Music in 1999 and since then worked mostly as a session musician with a lot of jazz related bands and other internationally known prolific artists such as Gary WILLIS of TRIBAL TECH and Steve HOGARTH of MARILLION to name a few from the progressive rock scene. Around 2004 he started working as band leader in the form of his projects like DX and the other simply named XAVI REIJA ELECTRIC QUINTET from which he regularly kept in the line-up the bassist Bernat HERNANDEZ (student of Gary WILLIS) and the Serbian jazz rock guitarist Dusan JEVTOVIĆ. This is the trio that worked on his recent album 'Resolution' in 2014 which REIJA dedicated to his father Joseph REIJA. In the projects he led he plays a fresh sound of fusion mimicking music like post rock, but besides his solo discography he is still a very active live performer in other bands and an author and instructor for playing the drums on the side.

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XAVI REIJA discography


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XAVI REIJA top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.00 | 1 ratings
Xavi Reija Electric Quintet: Dream Land
2006
3.00 | 1 ratings
Xavi Reija Electric Quintet: Rithual
2008
3.63 | 7 ratings
Resolution
2014
4.00 | 1 ratings
Reflections
2017
4.27 | 14 ratings
The Sound of the Earth
2018
4.90 | 2 ratings
Dreamscape Room
2020
0.00 | 0 ratings
Workplace
2022

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XAVI REIJA Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Dreamscape Room by REIJA, XAVI album cover Studio Album, 2020
4.90 | 2 ratings

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Dreamscape Room
Xavi Reija Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer

5 stars Back in 2017, Reija released a drums/piano/bass album called 'Reflections', with pianist Nitai Hershkovits and bassist Pau Lligadas. Here he has returned to the same format, but this time around he has brought in José Manuel Posada "Popo" (electric bass) and José Carra (piano). Recorded again at La Casa Murada, which has long been a favourite of Moonjune artists in particular, here we have yet another fusion album which is an absolute delight from start to end. Although this is the first recording with this trio, musically they have followed on from the 2017 release while also bringing in elements from Reija's superb 2018 album 'The Sound of The Earth', where the quartet included Markus Reuter, Dusan Jevtovic and Tony Levin. That was more experimental in nature, but still incredibly fluid, and it is the fluidity which comes through so much on this album.

Carra is well-known within Spain, and has been leading his own bands for years, and here he takes the compositions and turns them into wonderful works of art. Posada has a wonderful touch on fretless bass, while Reija is a master of percussion, and it is not unusual for all three to apparently be playing in totally disconnected areas yet somehow, they all join to create something quite special indeed. The piano is the main melodic instrument throughout, yet all three take turns in heading to the front, while there are times when all three seem to be gently vying for control. This is an intensely melodic album, with plenty of repeated piano motifs, and is far more structured than many of Reija's other works. It feels highly scored and deliberate, yet still maintains a sense of freedom and passion within.

It is an album which is perfect for a summer's day, full of brightness and light, and is a sheer delight throughout. Play it in the background, or sit and listen intently, it is one of those albums that capture the ear and even if you put it on with the intention of getting on with the day, it will soon enrapture and delight you. Although all three musicians involved are superb craftsmen, they don't feel the need to overplay, and that is one of the joys of this as while there are times when they are indeed everywhere at once, there is always room for space and light, and the control of the dynamics is superb. Yet another great release from this incredible drummer.

 The Sound of the Earth by REIJA, XAVI album cover Studio Album, 2018
4.27 | 14 ratings

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The Sound of the Earth
Xavi Reija Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by memowakeman
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

When you see a combo like this one you already know it can't go wrong. It is great to see how musicians from the Moonjune family have been connecting with the years, at the point of helping each other in different records. This time, amazing Spanish drummer Xavi Reija joined forces once again with wonderful guitar maestro Dusan Jevtovic, along with legendary bass god Tony Levin and the insatiable and prolific genius Markus Reuter, creating a four-piece band of experts on their instruments, working together in a full album for the very first time.

The meeting took place back in 2016, and the result has given us this colorful album entitled 'The Sound of The Earth', which allows the listener's senses to float almost all the time, making connections with countless atmospheres that are eventually inducted in our body and soul. The musical experience here is wonderful, but it is needed that you have enough time to listen to it carefully and let the music take you to its different paths.

We could say the introduction is abrupt; it might take us for surprise, but 'Deep Ocean' is the first of the multiple musical and sensorial experiences this album offers. Its first minutes are heavy, chaotic and maybe complicated, but the calm comes after the storm. Then the musicians begin to play (in both senses) and their freedom allow them to give different solos here and there, until all fades out and then the first part returns in an even more chaotic tune.

The name of the album is also the name of some songs, all of them full of soundscapes that ease our souls. It can be proved in 'The Sound of The Earth 1', the atmosphere is quite relaxing, dreamy and spacey, the presence of Reuter has provided Reija and the band with such wonderful textures, colors and nuances, and even if our minds mention the name of King Crimson, I believe Reuter has created himself a very own sound. Of course, the help of that delicious Levin's bass first, the cadence of Xavi's drums and later the very touching Jevtovic's notes, give as a result a musical and sensorial masterpiece.

After the calm, chaos returns. But not in a pejorative sense. The experimentation is something these four musicians like to do and know how to do, so here we witness how a composition can squeeze the best out of them, how every of the four play their instruments with freedom and never harm each other's sound. 'The Sound of The Earth 2' starts with an addictive and even danceable rhythm created by drums and bass, while guitars appear with a tense sound that increases little by little, creating a much darker atmosphere than in the previous songs. The sensorial journey continues here, I love how these guys' music represents a passage of a simple man's life, a passage of time, an experience. This is the sound of oneself, and in the end, the sound of the earth.

'Serenity' brings what the title suggests at least in the first three minutes. Atmospheric background while a repetitive drum hypnotizes us, and while strings create different figures and noises that appear like thoughts of an anxious person. The calm all of a sudden becomes chaos once again, the music explodes emulating a person's real experience, I mean, when someone explodes, he/she hits and hurts, damage is done, but later, the calm comebacks in order to bring a moment of introspection. 'The Sound of The Earth 3' let Dusan Jevtovic's guitar shine, I was truly attracted by it, but in a second and third listen I could appreciate the equal value of all the instruments in this track. You see, the four members have a different point of view in these compositions, all four attack with their weapons from their different corners, but in the end, all the bullets converge in the central point.

'Lovely Place' is a shorter track. Again it was Jevtovic who caught my attention first, but later Reuter and his touch guitar take its share and delight us with a great solo while Tony and Xavi's intensity increase. 'The Sound of The Earth 4' is the longest track here. A 17-minute trip to different landscapes. The band explores their lands and trespass all the possible boundaries in a very intuitive way, but with the vital element of previously knowing each other, so we, as listeners, are co-responsible of the path we choose and the instrument that leads us in every different passage. Spacey music, experimental tunes, calm and tension, light and darkness, countless atmospheres and figures that will apprehend our senses.

This great album finishes with 'Take A Walk', a short rocky experimental piece in which Jevtovic's guitar is the guide, but Reija's drumming also show a contagious sense of power. In the end, here we can appreciate four monsters acting in total freedom and with the confidence of sharing studio with capable musicians and better human beings.

Enjoy it!

 The Sound of the Earth by REIJA, XAVI album cover Studio Album, 2018
4.27 | 14 ratings

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The Sound of the Earth
Xavi Reija Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer

5 stars Consummate drummer Xavi Reija is back with his fourth solo album, and as with the wonderful 'Resolution' from 2014, he has been joined by guitarist Dusan Jevtović. However, this time he has brought in two Stick Men with Tony Levin providing bass, upright bass and stick and Markus Reuter on touch guitar. This means that between them there are four more sounds and potential interactions on show than would be possible with any 'normal' quartet. Recorded in just one day, the album is a cacophony of sounds and notes being brought together by four musicians who are consistently bouncing ideas off each other. Reuter and Levin are touring together a great deal, so know each other's styles intimately, while Reija and Jevtović have a long history together as well, and the two pairs combine to make an album of exciting and invigorating music.

One of the joys of this album is the sheer variety, with all four playing lead (all at the same time), although it is often left to Levin and Reuter to attempt to maintain some sort of stable foundation for the others to play against. The four lengthy songs are parts I-IV of the title cut, composed by all four, as they bounce the ideas off each other and see where the music takes them. The second of these commences with Xavi shuffling on drums, Tony providing some beautifully warm upright bass, Markus creating the soundscape as only he can, before Dusan makes his entrance. It is an incredibly intense album, with so much going on at all times, yet it never overloads the senses as it continues to make music sense throughout. Putting these four into a room together, turning on the tapes and then just letting them play, was truly inspired. When it comes to fusion, bringing together jazz, progressive rock and improvisation, then it is hard to find a stronger group of players. This is an incredible album, totally essential to anyone who enjoys this style of challenging and almost avant garde music.

 Resolution by REIJA, XAVI album cover Studio Album, 2014
3.63 | 7 ratings

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Resolution
Xavi Reija Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by memowakeman
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

Warning: I warn you friends, about my lack of knowledge about drums and its techniques, styles and players, probably drums are my least favorite instrument in a regular band, and though I am aware of its value, it is difficult for me to listen and review music where drums play the main role.

Having said that, I thank again Leonardo from Moonjune Records for introducing me to Xavi Reija, a Spanish talented musician, a drummer who has been willing to spread his tunes in other countries, and whose first album "Resolution" saw the light this year, and it is receiving good criticism nowadays. Well, I'll do my best for this review, but remember what I said first. For this album, Reija plays with a couple of friends, that as a power trio, offer a long album where drums rule, but when a salad of sounds and styles can be perceived.

Its first track is "Flying to Nowhere" which sounds like a jam in the first moments, with a delicate sound in which guitars stand out, above drums and bass; but after a couple of minutes, the sound gets louder and even rockier, so the three instruments now take the attention of the listener. There is a pause, and the structure begins again, I am not that fan of that pause, I think the beauty of the music was dissolved, and though later they put the sufficient energy that made me feel pleased, I blame that pause to not make me qualify this as a fabulous track.

In "Macroscope" one can feel now the role of the drummer as the main character, though later bass and guitar appear and put their great grain of sand, Reija play his drums and put different figures all over the song (please, my apologies, I know nothing about drum termination, so I cannot explain more precisely). Well, the first part becomes a ghost after some minutes, where a kind of distorted guitar takes the leadership and brings a truly strange passage, which to my ears, is completely unnecessary. Then the trio returns and creates new rhythms and figures, with a more solid and freer drummer. The next song is "Shadow Dance", and when I listen to it, I start thinking the album was recorded from improvisations and jams, though I am not sure if they actually composed and created structures, of they just let the music fly and flow. Anyway, the melody does not exist here, so after a minute I felt lost, and never recovered my interest in this particular track.

"Dreamer" is one of the longest songs here. The percussion sound is repetitive, but this time addictive, so it does not matter what the other instruments do, the strange noises they create, my head keeps moving. Minutes later the music becomes louder, like drone and crazy, it cannot be described with a single musical label, the noise/sound is there, you just have to decide if you take it or leave it. I liked it, but it is not definitely something easy to dig. Next one is "Abyss" and I thing there is something common in most (if not all) of the songs, there are loads of stops and pauses, which honestly damage my listening pleasure, so the music is fractured and fragmented that I sometimes lose some of the pieces, and never manage to gather them again. This happened to me with this track.

"Unfinished Love" is more interesting, rockier, with punch and energy. This time the song does have a rhythm, so one can feel it and move the body. I like the strings, though their sound is distorted on purpose, it sounds clean. "The John's Song" follows the same style, actually it could be a second part of Unfinished Love, due to that distorted sound of the bass, and the same rhythm and figures produced by drums. After two and a half minutes the mandatory pause appears, and cuts the power and the emotion that was previously built. I am sorry Xavi, but with these pauses my interest decreases, no matter the last minutes are powerful again.

The sound in resolution is different, constant drums as background, while soft bass lines accompany and the guitar notes sound every here and there. The sound is almost quiet, but it never ceases, we are always listening to something, those strings that produce a nervous sound, and that drums that make enigmatic nuances. A strange track, again not easy to dig, but I liked it.

"Gravity" is the longest song, and it also brings intermittent noises, a guitar here, a bass there, while drums constantly plays. Seems the trio is having fun, enjoying the jam, but there is a point when it becomes difficult for the listener, in my case, I found several moments in this piece and in other songs, where I just wanted to skip them. But well, maybe for drummers this might be more interesting in a professional way. The last song is "Welcome to the End" and I cannot deny that my mind says "yeeeeah, at last", I am not a man who loves long albums, there are some outstanding ones that no matter its length, I can listen to them over and over, but this one has been really tough, it is so long, and difficult to enjoy.

I have no doubt that Xavi Reija and his trio are talented musicians, but the music offered here is not something I would truly suggest, as much as I tried, I can easily say I did not like it, but well, you know music is a matter of tastes. Hope some of you readers, have a different experience and help these guys approach success.

Enjoy it!

 Resolution by REIJA, XAVI album cover Studio Album, 2014
3.63 | 7 ratings

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Resolution
Xavi Reija Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Spanish drummer Xavi REIJA is an established fixture in the Spanish music scene, and rather renowned as well, if I have understood the descriptions of him correctly. He has a recording history going back a decade or thereabouts with two full length albums to his name with a quintet, two more albums as part of a project and a group respectively, as well as a book and a DVD. He is also a drum teacher giving regular and online classes. "Resolution" is Xavi's third full length production, his first proper solo album. It was released through Moonjune Records in the spring of 2014.

Instrumental music residing in the borderlands between jazz and rock with a liberal amount of experimental details, textured guitars with drone-like qualities and what sounds like a fairly improvisational approach is what Xavi Reija along with his musical partners Dusan Jevtovic and Bernat Hernandez provides us with on "Resolution". While not a production I feel will have a broad appeal, it is a recording well worth investigating if you have a deep affection for music that transcends boundaries and established conceptions, especially if you are fond of music of that kind that has a fairly dark overall mood.

 Resolution by REIJA, XAVI album cover Studio Album, 2014
3.63 | 7 ratings

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Resolution
Xavi Reija Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer

4 stars Xavi is recognized as being one of Spain's top jazz drummers, and over the last fifteen years has built his reputation by working with artists such Steve Hogarth (Marillion), Gary Willis (Tribal Tech), Monica Green (The Supremes), Caco Senante, O 'Funk'illo and Pep Sala Joaquin Calderon. But he has also been working on his own bands, releasing 'Two Sides' with DX Project, two albums with the Xavi Reija Electric Quintet as well as trimming that down to the Xavi Reija Electric Trio who prior to this had released a DVD. Now he is back, again in a trio environment, with Bernat Hernández on bass, and Dusan Jevtović on guitars. Bernat also played with Dusan on the latter's album 'Am I Walking Wrong' which was released last year.

When I first started listening to jazz as a child, it was bands led by drummers that I became most interested in, and the very first jazz album I ever bought with my own money was by Gene Krupa. There is something about music being geared towards the complexity and freedom that comes from a powerhouse at the back that really lifts the overall, and if you normally listen to metal then you would have to agree that Testament's recent stunning live opus just wouldn't be half as dynamic if Gene Hoglan wasn't behind the kit. Only four of these compositions are group numbers, with the other seven all scored by Xavi, but the common theme throughout is the sheer amount of space that these guys have given themselves to work with. That they are all stunning musicians are never in doubt, but they know the importance of simplicity as well as complexity, and know the right time to deliver what is required, with fuzzed distortion adding to the overall sound.

The three musicians work off each other, and the result is an avant garde album that combines improvisation with funk and melody, distortion and feedback with clean struck notes, polyrhythmic sounds with simple timekeeping, so much so that the listener never really knows what is coming next. A very strong production tops off yet another incredibly strong release from the Moonjune label. www.moonjune.com

Thanks to historian9 for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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