MY SPANISH HEART

Visions of Music - World Jazz invites the viewer on a journey to the roots of music, introducing the enormous impact that traditional music from around the world has had on contemporary jazz. This program features legendary musicians such as BB King, Dino Saluzzi, Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, Zawinul Joe, Manu Dibango, Abdullah Ibrahim, as well as new generation representatives such as Nicholas Payton, Cyro Baptista, and Don Byron. This episode of the Visions of Music series focuses on flamenco, a musical style born in southern Spain, Andalusia. The first musicians who combined flamenco with jazz are Pedro Itturalde and Paco de Lucia. At the time, the combination of these two styles was rather a juxtaposition: we first heard flamenco, followed by a little jazz. This fascinating documentary is mainly narrated by Rabih Abou-Khalil, who interviews famous flamenco musicians, such as Chano Dominguez and Manuel Delgado.

Since its opening in 1992, jazz club Moods has developed into one of Zurich’s largest and most prominent cultural venues. At the same time, it has become one of Europe’s prominent jazz clubs which today enjoys a well-deserved worldwide reputation among musicians and critics. The venue books a large variety of genres, ranging from jazz and soul to electronic and international music. Spanish Harlem Orchestra rejuvenates New York-style 'salsa dura', performing razor-sharp arrangements to a tee in this high-voltage show at Moods. Rarely did percussion, horns and singers interact this infectiously!

"One Of These Nights" was a very special event for Al Di Meola - a night like his legendary "Friday Night In San Francisco", recorded almost a quarter of a century ago. Al Di Meola assembled a thoroughly excellent group of musicians for this review of the highlights of a career spanning almost three decades - a fantastic combination of romantic chamber music, traditional Latin American music and free jazz, constantly switching between off-the-cuff improvisation and intricate set-pieces. Time and again the musicians manage to vary familiar pieces with surprising rhythm changes and brilliant soundscapes. Pianist Mario Parmisano and the two master drummers Ernie Adams and Gumbi Ortiz are always congenial partners, and Hungary's Sturcz String Quartet give the music an unusual flavor. Masterful solos, riveting, sometimes humorous dialogs and fascinating group playing round off this live recording, a stroll through Al Di Meola's rich repertoire of classics in a new, attractive sound. A truly magical concert.

Having played in New York with jazz icons Dave Liebman, Eliot Zigmund, Ari Hoenig, and Chris Cheek, Catalan bass player Manel Fortià now returns to his roots to reinvent traditional Catalan repertoire. Manel Fortià teams up with Antonia Lizana (saxophones), Pere Martínez (vocals), Max Villavecchia (piano), and Raphael Pannier (drums) to form ‘Libérica’, reimagining Catalan music and Flamenco through the eyes of a New York jazz musician. Their 2021 album ‘Arrels’ explores Catalan hymns, including ‘El cant dels ocells’ and ‘Els tres tambors’, heard here during a live performance at Nova Jazz Cava in Barcelona.

This broadcast shows a rare appearance at the 1996 Germeringer Jazztage by the legendary flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía and his sextet. Some may question the inclusion of a flamenco guitarist within a jazz festival. However, the similarities between flamenco and blues have been well documented: both are the outlet for a poor, disenfranchised minority, with a primitive strength, boundless capabilities for improvisation and a requirement for breathtaking virtuosity - all qualities shown by Paco de Lucía in this performance. Moreover, he has long been experimenting with jazz forms (evident even from his inclusion of bass, drums, and saxophone in his sextet), while still retaining the essence of the flamenco tradition. In his own words: “What I have tried to do is have a hand holding onto tradition and the other scratching, digging in other places trying to find new things I can bring into flamenco”.

Since its opening in 1992, jazz club Moods has developed into one of Zurich’s largest and most prominent cultural venues. At the same time, it has become one of Europe’s prominent jazz clubs which today enjoys a well-deserved worldwide reputation among musicians and critics. The venue books a large variety of genres, ranging from jazz and soul to electronic and international music. At Moods, Israeli flautist Hadar Noiberg and Spanish pianist Chano Domínguez merge jazz and international music. They borrow from their respective countries' rhythms and traditions, resulting in music that ranges from melancholy to lively.

Estival Jazz Lugano is an annual open-air music festival that takes place over five days at the picturesque city of Lugano, Switzerland. Since 1979, this musical Mecca has been a must-attend event for all jazz and world music fans worldwide. On July 1, 1986, guitarist John McLaughlin, saxophonist Bill Evans, drummer Danny Gottlieb, pianist Jim Beard, and bassist Jonas Hellborg continued the Mahavishnu Orchestra's sixteen-year legacy of impressive jazz fusion at the Estival Jazz Lugano.

In February 2021, multi-instrumentalist and singer Magalí Sare sits down at cultural center CASA SEAT in Barcelona for an impromptu live session with fellow multi-instrumentalist Dani López. The setting may be simple, but that doesn't make the concert any less interesting. Switching between piano, drums, flutes, and saxophones, mixing Spanish and English songs, Sare and López display their considerable talents during this exciting performance.