Last night the Bob Sands Big Band brought a dazzling close to the 10th UNED Melilla Jazz Sessions with a masterful performance on the stage of Sala 400 of the Congress and Exhibition Palace of the City of Melilla, playing to a full house of nearly 500 music lovers. In spite of the organizers’ initial concerns regarding holding this concert at such a large venue, the jazz fans of Melilla responded en masse to UNED’s musical offering, proving that this type of music goes down tremendously well among the people of Melilla, and once again demonstrating the organizational skills of the people responsible for these 10th Melilla Jazz Sessions.

Yet another year, and this one makes ten, it has to be said that these Melilla Jazz Sessions have been nothing short of a complete success, in terms of organization, attendance, and quality of the concerts. With every year that passes the festival organizers set themselves ever higher standards, to the delight of the hundreds of Melilla residents who year after year […] fill every corner of the “Federico García Lorca” Cultural Center to hear their favorite music. On this occasion, there was also time to fill the Sala 400 concert hall of the Congress and Exhibition Palace of the City of Melilla, thanks to the collaboration of a great lover of this type of music, the deputy secretary of the Melilla Department of Tourism and president of the Melilla Tourism Board, Javier Mateo.

The Bob Sand Big Band

It fell to the Bob Sands Big Band, one of the most renowned jazz bands in Spain, to delight the almost 500 Mellilla music fans that last night flocked to Sala 400 of the Congress and Exhibition Palace. Under the leadership of veteran New York saxophonist Bob Sands, the band has developed into a class act on the Spanish jazz scene. The band brings together the best musicians in Madrid and features soloists Bobby Martínez, Chris Kase, Norman Hogue, Mariano Díaz, and Joaquín Chacón. Last night’s set in Melilla included numbers immortalized by such jazz greats as Count Basie and Duke Ellington, plus original compositions by Chris Kase, Kurt Weiss, and others.

The group covered a wide range of songs by prestigious artists, such as Berimbau by Baden Powell, Morning glories by Bill Ashton, and John Kander’s New York, among others.