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Last week belonged to the
savants of jazz. First, José
Duarte, a pioneer of jazz
criticism in Europe, who
received a glowing tribute in
Lisbon’s San Luis theater to
celebrate the 40th anniversary
of his radio show Cinco minutos
de jazz; while Juan Claudio
Cifuentes celebrated 35 years of
his Jazz porque sí radio show,
which now goes out on Radio
Nacional.
The Melilla Jazz Sessions, (also
celebrating an anniversary, in
this case their tenth), paid
tribute to Cifu’s eloquence and
jazz wisdom in an event that was
something of a novelty, bringing
together as it did audience and
public authorities. Representing
the latter was the president of
the autonomous city of Melilla,
Juan José Imbroda, who presented
the trophy. The award ceremony
was an emotional affair, that
for once left the popular
broadcaster speechless:
something even the oldest among
us find hard to remember.
With the idea of breaking away
from the image that the festival
had had in the past, the
organizers, in association with
the local section of the
Universidad Nacional de
Educación a Distancia (the
National Distance University of
Spain), invited a five star big
band under the direction of
saxophonist Bob Sands: 17 top
class musicians and their
instruments and paraphernalia
who nearly filled the plane that
shuttles between the North
African enclave of Melilla and
the Spanish mainland. Only those
familiar with the day to day
complications of life in Melilla
will appreciate the effort that
the band had to make, which was
amply rewarded by a dazzling
concert held in the city’s
Palacio de Congresos.
The band opened in no half-hearted
fashion with Groovin hard by
Buddy Rich, and what followed
was a whirlwind of top flight
orchestral jazz with the pedal
to the metal, punctuated every
now and then with a solo
confirming the already
recognized talent of Bobby
Martínez, or the still to be
discovered talent of guitarist
Israel Sandoval. Classic numbers
sounded as if they’d been laid
down yesterday: from Kenny
Dorham to Count Basie, and the
music of Basie’s arranger Sammy
Nestico or sideman Frank Foster.
And, to finish, more Buddy Rich
(Love for sale).
So near and yet so far, the city
of Melilla was, for just one
night, the jazz capital of Spain,
and provided an early tribute to
the lifelong work of Cifu, a
tribute that won’t be the last.
He’s deserved it.
© El País S.L. | Prisacom S.A. |
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