Holman Alvarez

Holman Alvarez

Uarli’s Bones 2026

Holman Alvarez is a very original and inventive pianist and composer. While his music blends

together fairly free improvising, complex compositions, his Latin American heritage, and “experimental”

music, it is really beyond simple categorization.

Born in Barranquilla and raised in Cali, Colombia, he studied piano and composition at Universidad

del Valle, earned a Master’s degree in composition from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá and also studied

jazz piano at the Conservatorio Manuel de Falla in Buenos Aires. During 2011-22, Alvarez was a major part

Read more

Holman Alvarez

Uarli’s Bones 2026

Holman Alvarez is a very original and inventive pianist and composer. While his music blends

together fairly free improvising, complex compositions, his Latin American heritage, and “experimental”

music, it is really beyond simple categorization.

Born in Barranquilla and raised in Cali, Colombia, he studied piano and composition at Universidad

del Valle, earned a Master’s degree in composition from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá and also studied

jazz piano at the Conservatorio Manuel de Falla in Buenos Aires. During 2011-22, Alvarez was a major part

of Bogotá’s experimental music scene, teaching at several universities, composing for jazz orchestras,

films, choirs, and chamber ensembles, and recording five albums as a leader. Among his recordings were a

set of piano solos (Yegua de la Noche), a duet album with drummer Jorge Sepulveda (Geometria Ardiente),

trumpeter Rachel Therrien’s (Pensamiento), and the trio album Labo Matik #1.

Based in Queens, New York since 2022, Holman Alvarez performs everything from Latin jazz and

salsa to free improvisations and his own originals. Prior to Uarli’s Bones, his most recent recording was

Hidden Objects, a quartet set for the Sunnyside label that also features trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, bassist

Drew Gress, and drummer Satoshi Takeishi.

Uarli’s Bones finds the pianist-composer joined by the brilliant vibraphonist Patricia Brennan,

bassist John Hebert, and drummer Kate Gentile, three very intuitive and inventive musicians. They perform

nine of Alvarez’s originals, unpredictable and personal modern music that sounds unlike any composed by

anyone else. The opening title cut, which begins with ominous-sounding piano chords before the ensemble

joins in, has the feeling of magnificent new music being created from nothing but space. It is inspired by the

phrase “And along the way, a new music came from his bones.”

“El Juicio Del Diablo,” which has an older rhythm accompanying intense improvising by the pianist

(symbolizing a meeting of the past and the present), was composed when a former president of Colombia

mocked justice during his trial. “Hilo De Ariadna,” formerly recorded by Alvarez as a piano solo back in

2013, begins with what sounds like random notes before it evolves into a modal piece that inspires creative

vibes, piano, and bass solos. The impressionistic and introspective “The Last Day Of The Longest Night”

utilizes a six-note rhythmic pattern for much of the performance.

“Winter Boogaloo” has effective punctuations by Alvarez behind Brennan and a particularly

inventive piano solo that is often free while also being infectious. “Nashua,” dedicated to the memory of

Nashua Abusaid Name, a drummer and former student of Alvarez who passed away, is a melancholy and

thoughtful piece. More light-hearted is “The Spider Under The Stone, a catchy one-chord groove that is

quite accessible and even danceable. Uarli’s Bones concludes with the dramatic and improvised “Visible

Walls” (influenced by the contrast between rich and poor neighborhoods in New York City) and the

thoughtful “Brote.”

Holman Alvarez is certainly a talented musician who is well worth discovering. Uarli’s Bones is an

excellent place to start.

Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian

Press articles

Show less