MÁLAGA EN FLAMENCO 2007. ‘7
DE PACO’, JORGE PARDO, CARLES BENAVENT, TINO DI
GERALDO, CHANO DOMÍNGUEZ, CHONCHI HEREDIA
The (real) tribute
Silvia Calado. Málaga, August 29th, 2007
Photo gallery. ‘7
de Paco’, by Daniel Muñoz
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Carles Benavent
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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‘7 de Paco’. Jorge Pardo:
sax, flute. Carles Benavent: bass. Tino di Geraldo: drums.
Chano Domínguez: piano. Chonchi Heredia: cante
(guest artist). Málaga en Flamenco 2007. Playa
del Palo (Málaga), August 29th, 2007. 8 p.m.
This tribute, conceived by Jorge
Pardo and Chano
Domínguez of their own accord, is now over
a decade old. As the saxophonist relates at his website,
it so happened that “when I was recording with Chano
Domínguez on his first album, I took back up an
idea which had been running around in my head a few years
earlier; playing Paco
de Lucía’s music without a guitar and
with musicians who, understanding it, played it differently”.
And recovering that tribute came in really handy for Málaga
en Flamenco 2007, setting it within the series dedicated
to the toque maestro entitled ‘Su homenaje’.
Jorge Pardo had already said it in those
lines, that “what it sounded like was a genuine
surprise … new, nondescript, and nevertheless familiar”.
And that’s exactly what it sounded like on this
eveningnearlynight at Playa del Palo in Málaga.
A dozen years later and with a condensed group compared
to the album - which also included musicians such as Javier
Colina -, the music continues to surprise, sounding different,
fresh… but near. Jorge Pardo on sax and flute, Carles
Benavent on bass (both former members of the Paco
de Lucía Sextet), Chano Domínguez on piano,
Tino
di Geraldo on drums and Chonchi Heredia on cante found
that place where personalities blend, creating another
common one which in this case had Paco de Lucía’s
musical legacy as the backdrop. And also the sea, which
was clearer, more resounding, more of a star. At each
pause, the murmur of the waves slipped in through the
microphones. And foam leapt behind the stage from time
to time.
Chano Domínguez, Chonchi
Heredia, Jorge Pardo,
Carles Benavent and Tino di Geraldo (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
The evening was clear when they started
off with ‘Sólo
quiero caminar’. And the night was already dark
with a full moon when they closed the concert with the
great ‘Ziryab’.
Between one song and the other, there were two hours of
continuous music which delighted a knowledgeable audience,
in its majority fans of the wonders worked by this handful
of heterodoxy maestros. Everything was imbued with the
precise flamencura, also with certain touches of jazz,
but above all, with the energetic freedom professed by
these musicians. And that’s absolutely contagious.
The crowd enjoyed itself. And it didn’t hesitate
to show it by rising to its feet in each and every solo
dotting the vibrant performance. Jorge Pardo just needed
the flute “to play seven little things I’ve
learned from Paco and Camarón”.
And he sang and he played, jondo, jondo. Chano Domínguez
seasoned with sea salt a journey on the piano between
classical and West Indian. Carles Benavent and Tino di
Geraldo took a superb look at Jaco Pastorius on compás.
And Chonchi didn’t sing solo, but in each of her
appearances, she made it clear that she’s a necessary
echo on today’s flamenco scene, soaring and with
nuances (she now tours in Paco’s group). ‘La
tumbona’, ‘Canción de amor’…
What a tremendous group, ladies and gentlemen. And what
a tremendous tribute, a true tribute, coming from within
music. People were literally shouting with pleasure. Of
course, they called for an encore by stamping their feet
to the beat. And as a bonus track they got the rumba ‘Playa
del Carmen’, the one which magically combines the
optimism of the score with one of flamenco’s most
fatalistic sets of lyrics, now then, translated to tenor
sax. “When I get to thinking that I have to die,
I throw a blanket on the floor and…”.
Photo
gallery. ‘7 de Paco’, by Daniel Muñoz
Click the images to enlarge |
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| Chano
Domínguez
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
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Jorge
Pardo
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Carles
Benavent
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
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| Chonchi
Heredia
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
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Chano
Domínguez, Chonchi Heredia, Jorge Pardo,
Carles Benavent and Tino di Geraldo
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Jorge
Pardo and Carles Benavent
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
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