FESTIVAL JAZZ MADRID 2008. PERICO SAMBEAT, ‘FLAMENCO
BIG BAND’
Intermittency
S. C. Madrid, November 19th, 2008
‘Flamenco Big Band’ isn’t
something new, but rather a new reunion. There are already
a lot of stories between flamencos and jazz players. And
this one now proposed by Perico Sambeat is none other than
the continuation of previous projects such as ‘Pasajes’,
‘Cruce de caminos’ and ‘New York Flamenco
Reunion’. What changes is who’s pulling the
cart, and therefore, which side the dialogue lies on. Here,
it is done by the Valencia-born saxophonist. And that imbues
the project both in the recording - released by the mythical
label Verve - and the live show which could be seen at the
Madrid Jazz Festival.
Perico Sambeat with Gerardo
Núñez, Pitingo, Javier Colina and Marc
Miralta (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
To the contrary of when the conductor is
Gerardo
Núñez, the weight falls on the ethereal
jazz discourse by Sambeat, who combines the conducting with
sax-clarinet-flute solos. The Jerez-born guitarist provides
certain details, just like bailaora Carmen Cortés,
box drum player Cepillo and cantaores Pitingo
(the night’s detachable guest) and Joaquín
el Duende. Touches by all of them which room is intermittently
made for during the concert. Certain pinches of feeling
arose on this jondo side as well as the warmest ovations
from the audience. Who, by the way, don’t utter “olés”
but rather “yeahs”. And especially getting a
response was the guitarist’s vibrant solo por bulerías
and the bailaora’s restrained bit por soleá.
More might have been expected of the cante, especially from
Pitingo, so familiarized as he is with the martinete and
the soleá, as with fusions and New Orleans.
The channel linking some musicians with
others in this project (the ten-something players of winds,
contrabass, piano and drums) is more than the spirit, the
rhythm. Although the simplification of the rhythmic scheme
is always sought to make the conversation more fluent. Which,
on the other hand, blurs the essence of the styles, turning
soleares, bulerías and tanguillos into little more
than songs pleasant to the ear. But it is a respectable
question of style.
Perico Sambeat Flamenco Big
Band (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
