Flamenco guitarist Niño Josele premieres his new album ‘Española’ in New York

The live presentation will be from October 20th to 25th at the Village Vanguard

Flamenco-world.com, October 2009

Neither Almería, nor Seville, nor Madrid. Niño Josele has chosen New York for the live premiere of his new album ‘Española’, produced by Fernando Trueba. It will be from October 20th to 25th, 2009 when the Almería-born guitarist premieres the contents of the disc at the Village Vanguard in the American city. And the thing is that far from breaking the relationship he established with jazz on ‘Paz’, he boosts it on this new recording. He takes the title from a score by pianist McCoy Tyner which he does a version of to open the album. The rest are new songs of his own, some based on flamenco styles and others influenced by latin music or jazz. ‘Española’ is officially scheduled to be released on November 3rd.

Niño Josele (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

With his album with previously unreleased songs ‘Venta del Alma’ still recent, Niño Josele is putting the finishing touches on the release of a new disc. ‘Española’ is produced by Fernando Trueba, filmmaker and founder of the music label Lola Records, and is officially to be released on November 3rd, 2009. But first, the Almería-born guitarist will premiere his new scores from October 20th to 25th at the Village Vanguard in New York, where he already played in 2007. And he will do so in a trio, accompanied by bass player John Benítez and percussionist Horacio el Negro.

The new repertoire stems from flamenco, but is influenced by jazz and latin sounds. The most jondo is stuck to in pieces like the rondeña ‘Camino de Lucía’, ‘Zapateado para Bebo’ and the seguiriya ‘Balcón de luna’. Heterodoxy is emphasized in the first cut, a version of the score ‘Española’ by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner which is the album’s title cut, and in other pieces such as ‘A contratiempo’, where the bulería and the tumbao meet, the tribute to Bill Evans ‘Waltz for Bill’, the final song ‘La partida’ and the ironic ‘¿Es esto una bulería?’.

The only voice sounding on this disc is that of the guitar. There are no guest cantaores, but rather just instrumental music. Moreover, as is stressed in the company’s press release, “the guitars have been recorded live, without editing”. Now then, it has the accompaniment of musicians such as saxophonist Ralph Bowen, bass player Alain Pérez and legendary jazz player Phil Woods. ‘Española’ is the fifth solo album by Niño Josele, a guitarist who started from Tomatito’s school to go on to forge a name for himself on today’s Spanish music scene after closely collaborating with artists of the likes of Enrique Morente, Diego el Cigala and Paco de Lucía.