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In light of these comments, the aficionado will understand
why the trio has taken so long to make this second record.
“If it’s taken so long it’s because besides
the trio, each has his own stuff”. Since ‘El directo
de Sevilla’ was recorded in 1999, the three of them
have had non-stop activity. Jorge Pardo has released albums
of his own such as ‘Mira’ (2001) and
‘Vientos
flamencos’ (2005), records with the group D3, discs
together with Tomás San Miguel, Iñaki Salvador
and Agustín Carbonell, as well as numerous specific
collaborations both live and at the studio with flamenco musicians
like Juan Diego. Carles Benavent released ‘Aigua’
(2001) solo and the album ‘Sumando’ (2005) in
a duo with guitarist Josemi Carmona, besides collaborating
on new albums by flamencos such as Diego Amador and Chicuelo.
You must also recall that the saxophonist and bass player
took part in the
Touchstone
international tour with American pianist Chick Corea.
As for Tino di Geraldo, he released the album ‘Tino’
in 2003 as a soloist, and as a producer, he signed ‘Cositas
de la realidad’ by Tomasito and the albums by the flamenco
fusion group ElBicho. And all of it at the same time as collaborations
as a percussionist in concert and at the studio with artists
of the likes of Manolo Sanlúcar, Carmen Linares and
Vicente Amigo. “Besides - as Tino says - you can’t
just sit down and record an album when you feel like it, and
more so, producing it ourselves”. And as the bass player
certifies, “making an album requires an effort; it’s
really hard. Besides the scores, it’s how you perform...
and more so when it’s recorded that way. It’s
a responsibility; nobody’s prodding us along with a
shotgun, so we wanted to do it well. And that’s why
we took our time”.
And it is precisely that, time, which has
solidified this project which arose nearly by chance. As
the drummer recalls, “at first there were eight or
nine of us, with guitar, cantaor, percussionist... sometimes
two came, others three and we started to be fewer. The truth
is that once the three of use were stood up”. They
had two options: “We could cancel the gig or do it
just the three of us; but we did it and we liked how it
turned out so much that we decided to keep on going”.
And they’re glad about that decision. As Tino humorously
explains, “our share’s bigger, we fit anywhere,
the sound check is faster... There are only advantages”.
Starting there - Carles continues - “we
recorded in Seville to leave evidence of what we were doing;
we felt that before sitting down and recording studio albums,
it was fitting to do one live, it was like more authentic”.
And the thing is that the group is the result of what was
happening up on stage. “The repertoire we had and
we continue to have is the one we had with other groups,
but adapted for the trio”, Jorge clarifies. But there’s
quite a difference between that live album and this first
studio record. ‘Sin precedentes’, according
to Carles, “is now made thinking that there are just
three of us and each is developing his role to the max”.
And what does each vertex contribute? Well,
Tino admits that at first, “as far as composing, Carlos
and Jorge’s contribution was greater than mine because
I joined things when they were already rolling; they were
already doing a repertoire by them together”. But
now Carles confirms that “the trio is an equilateral
triangle, with three equal sides”.
-Tino di Geraldo: The
mother of invention as far as musical concept and composing
goes, is more their business. When they were playing with
Paco, I was still on a baby bottle in the musical sense.
They were already doing tours with Paco de Lucía
and I didn’t know what a bulería was. They
went along collecting stuff that was already there when
I arrived, although it’s a pretext for playing in
the end. They’ve been at it longer than me, not just
because of age.
-Carles Benavent: He had
to go and blurt out the matter of age!
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