ALICANTE COUNCIL AUDITORIUM
*** ½
fijazz 2023.
One of the internationally renowned Spanish musicians, Valencian pianist, composer and arranger Albert Sanz performs here in 1991 with a Valencia-based orchestra and the Sedajazz Big Band collective, another cornerstone of the Spanish jazz scene.
Sanz was featured in an album called “L’emigrant” (2015) with this wonderful group. And in January 2023, a second album, “Algú que em vullga cuidar”, was released on ADDA in Fijazz, dedicated to the memory of trombonist Toni Belenguer, which was presented to fans with a great music appetite. The themes are “XI”.
The pleasant and soft sound conveys the vitality and instrumental beauty of multiple components. The influence of yesterday and the currents of today form a language under the leadership of the pianist. Contradictions circulate in complete harmony and enrich the creative proposal.
Such American musical formations emerged in the late 1920s with the last appearance of that rhythmic “swing” impulse. On the second evening of this festival, rhythms and sounds enchanted the audience. An eclectic repertoire with its own personality, including “Chacarera blues”, “It Could Only With You” (sung by Albert Sanz), “For God’s sake” or “Samba for the March girl” with the voice of Sanz’s mother. , actress Mamen García, whom we saw at Alicante Director last January, in the comedy “Ojos que no ven”. A versatile artist who ventured into the world of song and music.
But there was more. Renowned as one of the UK’s most talented vocalists, Sara Dowling’s voice is singer-songwriter Carles Dénia, with “The gipsy” and Eva Romero’s expressiveness and distinctive Mediterranean warmth. Or the extraordinary individuality of the instrument players Perico Sambeat, Voro García, Jesús Santandreu, Latino Blanco and other colleagues of the Sedajazz Big Band.