7º Festival de Jazz de Vigo

Concerto de inauguración. Martial Solal Newdecaband

Martial Solal (Algeria, 1927) is one of the living legends of piano. Not many people worldwide can match his mastery in the use of the eighty eight keys of his musical instrument. Amazingly, this experienced eighty-three-year-old pianist still practices for several hours every single day: hard work is the foundation of his skill.

And that skill has led some critics to claim that he is one of the very few pianists who can translate immediately into his keyboard whatever goes through his imagination. In his early stages he played with Django Reinhardt and gained prominence by composing extraordinary sound tracks for first-class French films.

Undoubtedly, his participation in Imaxina Sons was a much expected event: it was a matter of time, and an excellent opportunity for a jazz festival which drinks from the sources of European jazz, of which Solal is a referent.

For the Newdecaband project, Solal has gathered some of his usual collaborators −including Eric Le Lann− and representatives of the new wave of French musicians. The result is a vibrant work with tones of cinema: the best possible opening for the Sixth Imaxina Sons.

• Martial Solal: Piano
• Claude Egea & Eric Le Lann: Trumpets
• Jean-Jacques Justafré: French horn
• Claudia Solal: Voice
• Denis Leloup & Marc Roger: Trombones
• François Thilliez: Tuba
• Thomas Grimmonprez: Percussion
• Jean-Philippe Morel: Electric and acoustic bass