Flamenco Jazz Summit: El Mar Empieza Aqui

Always looking for new sounds and new voices in today's jazz, we have met Piet Verbist, a Belgian double bass player who does flamenco jazz. Said like this it sounds paradoxical or even out of place, but the explanation is simpler: Verbist has spent several years in Andalusia researching the roots and forms of flamenco with a grant from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. The result is this project called Flamenco Jazz Summit, an ensemble with Spanish and Belgian musicians where he fuses jazz rhythms, with traditional flamenco scales and forms (soleá, buler'a, tanguillo, seguiriya...), the result of a deep research work.

In the intro against solo, it is perceived that Verbist has the gift of subtlety in the strings, in addition to hearing that he has captured the rhythmic essence of flamenco, inherited from eight centuries of Arab occupation, as well as the harmonies and quarter-tones so characteristic, as can be seen in many of the songs (Carmelo Muriel executes it to perfection with the flamenco flute, for example).

From the initial flamenco blues to the coda we find explosive moments of flamenco rhythms that alternate with subtle double bass solos ("Nuevo Alterado", where Verbist takes over the melody on all four strings, which is not easy). The saxophone is another of the protagonists of the album (in addition to the flamenco flute). The Belgian, Tom Van Dyck, adds the melodic touch of jazz with a splendid Dexterian solo in "El Mar Empieza Aqu'," or adopting the characteristic turns of flamenco language on "La filosof'a del Jamón", a song that also contains a moment of double bass with a hypnotic groove. The flamenco rhythmic patterns are in charge of a section formed by Milan Verbist on piano, Carlos Cortés on percussion and Juan Sainz on drums, as well as Piet Verbist himself on double bass.

Throughout the album you can appreciate the seductive effect that flamenco music has had on Verbist, but also the culture, as can be seen in the poetry of its titles and also in the humour that characterises the Andalusian idiosyncrasy (and which we have borrowed for the title of this article). A highly recommended album, in short, that expands the flamenco roots, twinned decades ago with jazz.

Translated from Spanish