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Chano Domínguez
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What was it about Thelonious Monk, for example, that led you
to choose his songs and swathe them in flamenco rhythms?
Monk is a great songwriter above all else, and to me his compositions are very
much compatible and wide open to being played in many different styles. In fact
there are a lot of musicians who've done great work using his music, like Jerry
González with his Rumba para Monk. He's a musician that moulds to
your style of playing. Besides that I think there was something 'flamenco' about
the way Monk lived. Start playing his music and you come across fragments where
some phrases sit perfectly inside a bulería framework. But it isn't just
Monk: John Coltrane, for example is a musician who shares that essence of flamenco,
that refusal to play any note that doesn't need to be there, speaking, narrating,
expressing himself through his instrument, transmitting his emotions which, at
the end of the day, is what flamenco aims to do through cante, toque or
baile.
Digging deeper into that language, where do you see the connection between
flamenco and jazz, in their forms, in their sentiments...?
I see it above all in their roots, not in the forms, because they're very different
ways of using the seven notes and the distribution of time, although at the end
of the day they can fit together really well. They connect at the roots because
both types of music originate from underprivileged populations, oppressed people
who've had to fight long and hard to get what they have.
And which flamenco forms do you think best adapt to jazz?
Well in my experience bulerías, fandangos, and the ida y vuelta
palos, traditional Hispano-American styles given a flamenco treatment, such as
colombianas...
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"All the while you're working with different musicians you're
assimilating their teachings and adopting their languages"
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And while we're on the subject of ida y vuelta musical styles, in your latest
collaboration with artists from 'Calle 54' like Michel Camilo or Paquito D'Rivera,
there's a hint of you moving towards a Caribbean style of piano playing…
Is it hard for you, technically speaking, to play afro-cuban rhythms and those
driving tumbao Latin piano riffs?
All the while you're working with different musicians you're assimilating their
teachings and adopting their languages. That's what's happened to me since I did
'Calle 54' with Fernando Trueba. That's when I crossed paths with Paquito, with
Jerry González, with Giovanni Hidalgo, Dave Valentin, Mario Rivera. We've
toured with all those guys - this October we'll be on tour again in Europe - and
there's no doubt that as I'm playing, something of their language is getting mingled
into mine. If I play a tumbao on the piano it's because it just came out
naturally that way, but the truth is I never studied that, I don't consider myself
a tumbao player in the strict sense.
So your style of playing the piano interleaves many influences, do they
include guitar structures?
Without a doubt. I was a guitarist and later, as a pianist, I've been lucky
enough to work with legends of the six strings: Vicente Amigo, Tomatito, Cañizares,
Gerardo Núñez, and I've learned a lot from each one. And that's
not forgetting Paco de Lucía, who we dedicated an album to - '10 de Paco'
- with Jorge Pardo a few years back now. The fact is that to play flamenco with
any instrument up until a few years ago there was no point of reference other
than the flamenco guitar. For some time now, people like Carlos Benavent, Jorge
Pardo or Rubem Dantas - components of Paco's septet - and my group too, are producing
material you could call inventive, music which has a great future and which, in
my opinion, is going through its adolescence right now, a time when it's feeding
off of loads of influences. There's a lot still to be said…
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"Changing from one musician to another, the notes and the time
signature might be the same but the tone of the conversation changes"
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Tell us about the other role your piano plays, that of accompanist. In your
collaborations with Martirio or Marta Valdés, your piano becomes a counterbalance
to the beat of a bolero, a danzón or a copla. What
do you get out of this side of your work?
For me, each situation is different and produces different conversations. Changing
from one musician to another, the notes and the time signature might be the same
but the tone of the conversation changes. That's what happens with Martirio or
Marta Valdés, they give me fresh ideas and beautiful things to play. You're
learning continually even if it's only by default: learning what you mustn't do
again next time…
Is there anyone you'd like to play with that you haven't played with already
from the worlds of flamenco and jazz?
Of course, there are loads of people… I'm always open to new collaborations
but right now I'm very focused and oriented toward my group. And they're the ones
- Guillermo Mc Guill, Tomasito, Blas Córdoba - I'm most at home playing
with.
'Oye Cómo Viene', your new disc, goes on sale in October. Is it different
in any way from your previous work?
In fact the disc is a DVD. It's a film of a live concert recorded in its entirety
in a studio. There are a lot of new songs but also a few adaptations of pieces
I'd already recorded before. And I'm really pleased with the result, I think it's
my best work to-date and I hope audiences will receive it with open arms. I hope
I get the same positive feedback from the people who've always followed my music.
There's cante, there's baile, there are tanguillos like 'Mañana de Reyes'
with afro-cuban accompaniment, there are bulerías, pretty much everything...
As a seasoned listener from Cadiz, what shining lights do you see emerging
in the world of flamenco?
It isn't just because he works with me, but to my mind Blas Córdoba,
'El Quejío', is a cantaor with great vocal talent, and has a brilliant
career ahead of him. We're going to work on a project together in the near future.
But of course there are plenty of amazing flamenco vocalists and guitarists, and
it would take forever to list all of the promising newcomers…
revista@flamenco-world.com
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