Offbeat experiences: Spain does jazz
Spain has always had an interest in jazz, traceable right
back to the Dixieland days. But Franco wasn’t a fan, and
for much of the 20thcentury jazz only found an outlet in
the smallest, dingiest clubs. Barcelona was always a
hub, attracting American sax legend Don Byas for a
couple of years in the late 1940s. Apparently a teenage
Te t e M o n t o l i u s n u c k i n t o a c l u b t o h a v e a l i s t e n t o B y a s- the blind Catalan pianist would go on to become
Spain’s premier jazzman. In the 1970s, with Franco
gone, Spain really got to grips with jazz. Predictably, it
fused with other forms, not least flamenco. Jorge
Pardo, one time collaborator with Paco de Lucía, was
one of various saxophonists to show how the twain
could meet, playing with the likes of Chick Corea. He
teamed up with flamencoguitarist El Bola recently on
the album Desvaríos(2007). Pianist Chano Domínguez
was another who married jazz with more Spanish
elements. In 2000 Domínguez established the Orquesta
Nacional de Jazz de España, which does what the name
suggests. These days the Spanish enjoy taking their jazz
outdoors; the annual Jazzaldia in San Sebastian is one
of many festivals that attract global stars. When they
do head indoors, the major cities have a number of
clubs to accommodate jazz fans, the most famous
being Jamboree in Barcelona, where Chet Baker, Ella
Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington have all let loose on stage.
Anarchy, rock and unadulterated schmalz
Crooners, rockers and punks – the 70s in Spain, as
elsewhere, coughed up a mixed musical hairball. This
was the decade when the charmers made their case,
when Julio Iglesias, Miguel Bosé and Raphael, who
often pretends to be a matador as part of his stage act,
established careers that are still running their course.188- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion - Media and
communications - Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
“IN JAZZ YOU
IMPROVISE WITH
A STRUCTURE IN
THE BACKGROUND
AND IN FLAMENCO
THE IMPROVISATION
IS PART OF THE
FORM.”
Chano Dominguezv4 SPAIN BOOK 27/3/08 10:05 Page 188