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FEATURING:
Keys/Guitar/Voice/Samplers/Programming: Rafael Greco
Additional Keys/Solo: Scott Kinsey
Synth Solo: Santiago Bosch
Bass: Jimmy Haslip
Drums/Perc:
Dave Weckl
Vinnie Colaiuta
Anton Fig
Fernando Valladares
Mark Ferber
Luisito Quintero
Guitars: Charles Altura, Juan Angel Esquivel
Clarinet: Marcos Salas
Vocals: Ezequiel “El Negro” Serrano, Pimpi Santistevan
Sound Design: Germán Landaeta
Mixing/Mastering: Germán Landaeta
Recording Engineers and Assistants:
Rafael Greco
Pimpi Santistevan
Ubilfido Cubillan
Tammy, Edgar Espinosa
Audio Editing: Juan Carlos Salas
Album Design: Pedro Quintero

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Liner Notes | About The Songs

Personal notes from Rafael Greco

1. Verses Under My Shadow
This music was born from witnessing cruelties firsthand, and from a desire to escape the noise of the modern world. It’s a protest against the triumph of mediocrity, against a society where the highest aspirations are merely to be a shallow intellectual, an erotic film star, a virtual musician, or a sad celebrity. We are living in an alienated world, where a new inquisitorial wave seeks to rewrite history and murder art, philosophy, and humor. The rise of the least capable and the technologies that empower stupidity have been cheered on by fools who favor extremes. Empathy, judgment, and common sense are under threat. I can only hope this absurd new obscurantism doesn’t last too long. To those who believe their legacy will be immortal, whether they do good or evil, I have news for you: nothing is eternal.

2.Vincenza nel mare

When my mother was near the sea, she became a child again.

3. La nuit

Lester Young’s style painted the atmosphere for this piece. I chose the traditional 32-bar format, embracing it as a challenge. It felt like an old dresser from the 1950s—I just had to fill its familiar drawers with new sounds. The hardest part was finding a sound that was neither a relic nor entirely new, a perfect, balanced midrange. A reading on the Egyptian deities Nut and Geb  helped me find this delicate equilibrium, a place where past and future could coexist.

4. Lucia
This music is a love letter to my daughter, Lucía; a piece born from a sudden late-night inspiration that I scribbled down just before sleep. The next morning, a phone call shattered my world—my mother had passed away. After returning from her farewell, my life in pieces, I found myself at the piano and wrote the second part of this work. When I look at a portrait of my mother as a young woman, I see my daughter staring back at me. This music feels like a mirror, holding my mother’s reflection and my daughter, Lucía, within the same frame.

5. Dr. Igloo, my evil and clumsy stalker
In September 2024, I published a humorous short story, Dr. Igloo. The story follows two characters: an elusive victim and a powerful, yet hilariously incompetent pursuer.

6. Bagheria
My memories of Sicily in 1972 are the vivid impressions of a five-year-old. I remember the warmth of family, the laughter, the good food, the hunting, the fishing, the clear light on the olive trees and the prickly pears, and the voices of Baghería, my father’s hometown near Palermo But it was an old Super 8 family film that truly sparked this music. I recall a silent scene of  musicians with mocking, erratic movements their strange dance set only to the mechanical whir of the projector.

7. I Changed The Title
This is a song I composed long ago, one I always wanted to record. In this version, I’ve revisited its original ideas to create a new, almost minimalist perspective. The result feels nothing short of magical.

8. Duo Fratelli
This music is a tribute to friendship, a clear conversation from start to finish. The rhythm is a gentle push forward, like two friends rowing in unison, their oars dipping in and out of calm water.

9.Cenotaph (A farewell to my saxophone case)

This is a farewell to Luciano’s case, my tenor saxophone’s old companion. On tour in New York, faced with strict airline luggage limits, I had to leave my faithful friend behind in Manhattan. It might seem frivolous, but we have a way of humanizing things. It’s painful to part with objects that have shared so much of our lives, things that an archaeologist might say hold memories of their own.

10. Joseph Conrad's deletions
For years, I have tried to capture the rich narratives of writers such as Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges, Jaime Ballestas, Joseph Conrad, Julio Garmendia, Aquiles Nazoa, Edgar Allan Poe, and Juan José Millás in music. This work is the culmination of that effort, a musical tapestry woven from fragments of their worlds. The journey began after I came across the pages of a Joseph Conrad manuscript. The title, “Joseph Conrad’s deletions.” was not a whim; it is a testament to the origin of this sonic adventure.

11. Get It Straight
When a reckless reality tries to confine us, we have the choice to find peace within. We often give in, letting the storm rage, but that’s not what this is about. The change we long for starts and ends inside ourselves. Willpower, calmness, judgment, reasoning, ideas, knowledge, and freedom are treasures no one can take from us. This is what “No te equivoques” truly means.

12.Sonatina (Méliès) for Solo Piano


Rondo (3112)
Adagio (Zx5d)
Dance I (111118)
Dance II (45°MW)


3112, Zx5d, 111118, and 45°MW —These are the names of planets the brilliant Georges Méliès might have dreamed up for films he never got to make. I like to think of this “soundtrack” as a way to set expressionist images to music, bringing those forgotten visions to life.

Free Song
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Lucia - Rafael Greco

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