Vana released his new CD “Making Memories” in the summer, 2013 (ENJA Records), featuring all new music written by Vana, an eclectic mix of Jazz with Spanish, Middle Eastern, Brazilian, even Gypsy elements, sometimes all mixed up in one single composition. Some are like suites…others some more cinematic, such as his tribute to the city of Rome, as well as a piece commissioned by the Wharton Center of Performing Arts at Michigan State University, which he had never recorded. Vana recorded everything live in the studio, both with the larger group, as well as with his core trio. Marcello Pellitteri plays drums on all but one track, which features Gene Jackson. Sean Conly and Matthew Parrish both play bass on the CD, and Vinicius Barros plays percussion. Paquito D’Rivera, who has been performing with Vana as a special guest on many international occasions, is a featured guest on the CD – his clarinet playing simply sublime. And on 3 arrangements, Vana added violin (Jane Hunt) and cello (Wolfram Koessel) to the clarinet…. a natural choice, since he had been writing for that instrumentation for a while.
