ALICANTE COUNCIL AUDITORIUM
*** ½
fijazz 2023
One of the world’s most respected Spanish musicians, Valencian pianist, composer, and arranger Albert Sanz graced the Alicante Council Auditorium in 1991. He shared the stage with a Valencia-based orchestra and the Sedajazz Big Band, a cornerstone of Spain’s vibrant jazz scene. This collaboration showcased a blend of refined technique and exuberant improvisation, presenting a sound that resonated with both traditional and contemporary jazz sensibilities.
Albert Sanz later contributed to the album L emigrant with the Sedajazz Big Band, expanding his imprint on a project that celebrates jazz storytelling through intricate arrangements and fearless exploration. In early 2023, a new album titled Algú que em vullga cuidar appeared on ADDA in the Fijazz festival circuit. The record honors the memory of the trombonist Toni Belenguer and was premiered to an enthusiastic audience with a program rooted in evocative melodies and communal musicianship. The collection centers on the theme XI, inviting listeners to follow a narrative arc that weaves past traditions with contemporary expression.
The music offered a rich palette of textures, from delicate, intimate passages to expansive, buoyant statements. The vitality and beauty of the instrumental work emerge from the interplay between piano, winds, rhythm, and voice, all guided by Sanz’s leadership. The ensemble navigates tensions between yesterday’s echoes and today’s currents, creating a language that feels both familiar and intriguingly fresh. Harmonies circulate in a dynamic balance, producing a creative proposition that feels organic and fully developed.
During the festival’s second night, an American-influenced swing sensibility surfaced, bringing an infectious energy to the stage. Performances spanned a diverse repertoire, including a piece titled Chacarera Blues, a sentimental vocal feature It Could Only With You sung by Albert Sanz, and a lively piece For God’s Sake. The program also featured Samba for the March Girl, performed with the voice of Sanz’s mother, actress Mamen García, who had previously impressed audiences at the Alicante Directors project the prior January in a comedy titled Ojos que no Ven. García’s versatility as an artist shone through, extending beyond acting into a vivid musical presence that enriched the live experience.
Further elevating the festival’s vocal artistry were contributions from Sara Dowling, recognized in the United Kingdom for her expressive delivery, who joined Carles Dénia in a performance of The Gypsy. Eva Romero offered Mediterranean warmth and a distinctive vocal timbre, complementing the instrumental prowess of Perico Sambeat, Voro García, Jesús Santandreu, Latino Blanco, and other members of the Sedajazz Big Band. The sessions highlighted a community of musicians whose individual voices blend to form a cohesive, engaging soundscape that captures the spirit of Alicante’s jazz scene and its ongoing dialogue with international styles. The collaborative spirit on display reflected a broader tradition in Spanish jazz where improvisation, composition, and storytelling converge in a shared moment of musical celebration, allowing the audience to experience music as a living conversation rather than a static performance. The result is a sound that feels both rooted and exploratory, a hallmark of the Sedajazz collective and its allies.
In this context, the festival acted as a launching pad for enduring collaborations. Albert Sanz’s leadership and the Sedajazz Big Band’s ensemble chemistry offered audiences a compelling portrait of contemporary jazz in Spain, framed by a historical lineage that reaches back to the swing era while looking forward to modern arrangements, lyrical explorations, and cross-cultural exchanges. The event underscored Alicante’s role as a creative hub where genre boundaries blur and musicians of different generations come together to reimagine what live jazz can be. Audience members left with a sense of discovery and connection, carried home by melodies that lingered long after the final encore. The festival’s program demonstrated that jazz remains a living language, capable of evolving through collaboration, memory, and fearless experimentation.
These performances also highlighted the broader spectrum of the Sedajazz Big Band’s partnerships, featuring prominent vocalists and instrumentalists who bring their own distinctive voices to the stage. The ensemble’s ability to integrate varied textures—from bold brass lines to nuanced piano passages and expressive vocal moments—made each concert a unique narrative, inviting listeners to experience jazz as a vibrant, communal art form rather than a fixed statement. The connection between composer, performer, and audience was felt in every pause, every swell of a chorus, and every intricate accompaniment that supported the lead melodies. In this sense, the Alicante festival embodied a living tradition of Spanish jazz that continually absorbs global influences while preserving a strong sense of local identity and improvisational spontaneity.