Jeno Somlai grew up in a house full of music. He remembers his parents, Linda and Tony, playing everything from classical to rock, folk, country, and blues. Jeno absorbed this music and began playing drums at a very young age. Soon he was playing in rock bands, and much in demand as a drummer. But he saw that many of his friends weren’t serious about music or weren’t going anywhere. Many were getting sidetracked by drugs and alcohol, while others were locked into dead end jobs that kept their musical aspirations under wraps. Around this same time, a friend played Jeno the John Coltrane recording A Love Supreme. As with so many who have come under this work’s spell, Somalai was instantly intrigued and motivated to discover what made this music so special.

Out in Providence at the time, Somlai moved to Milwaukee and began studying with Scott Wenzel at the Wisconsin Conservatory Of Music. He earned a certificate in percussion performance and joined the school’s faculty, and his career grew. He played with Luis Diaz, “La Chazz” and Don Linke -- his first experiences playing Latin Jazz. Somlai found himself drawn to the genre after hearing Eddie Palmeri and Brian Lynch -- two musicians he cited as influences comparable to his first listen of Coltrane.

“I loved the way the percussion drives things,” he said. “Just being the nature of the beast of drums, I really got excited about that.”

Over time, though, Somali grew frustrated with the drums, as they didn’t give him the outlet he needed to compose the music he heard in his head. He began to mess around with the piano. The instrument matched his interest in writing and arranging music, and Somlai began a formal study with Mark Davis, head of the jazz department at Cardinal Stritch University. Somali began to concentrate on writing, and formed his own sextet in 2003. After a year of playing together, they headed into the studio to record Let It Go. While the CD concentrates on Latin jazz, Somlai says he wants to explore Latin musical styles in even more depth, adding improvisational elements to whatever styles he investigates.

The title “Let It Go” also ties into Somlai’s Zen Buddhism practice at the Original Root Zen Center, where he is training to be a reverend teacher. Like music, Somlai has spent much of his life near Buddhism thanks to his parents, who are abbots and senior reverend teachers at ORZC. Somlai began sitting Zen Buddhist retreats as a teenager, and incorporates the practice into his life as a musician, husband, father, son, brother and his many other roles and titles. Regardless, Somlai said his Zen practice is not special.

“There is no difference between practice at the Zen center, my music and my family and me taking out the garbage,” says Somlai. Laughing, he adds, “I’ve come to this a lot by letting go.”

“Coltrane had his path that he followed. This is just my path, that path I’m following,” Somlai answered. “Whether you want to call it spiritual, or not, it’s just my path.”

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