Personnel:
Arturo Serra (vib), Perico Sambeat (as, ss), Albert Palau (p), Daniel Frank (b), Martin Andersen (d)
Reference: FSRCD 5149
Bar code: 842732865149
As everyone knows, the global pandemic confined the entire population to their homes, and for musicians this led to many musical expressions shared through social media. In my case, it meant returning to writing original music, something I hadn’t done in quite some time.
I had spent more years playing and recording the vast repertoire of jazz standards, creating arrangements or more personal versions of them.
After the post-pandemic reopening, we gradually returned to normal life and, a couple of years later, I began working more regularly with new musicians, such as Martin Andersen and Daniel Frank.
We planned a small tour, and I thought it was the right moment to open the drawer in my studio where I kept all my compositions and bring them to light, instead of recording standards this time.
This led to the idea of forming a new quintetto premiere this music. After a short tour between Madrid (Café Central) and Valencia (Jimmy Glass) —two of the most emblematic jazz clubs in Spain, among others, and places that have long supported the personal projects of many musicians— we decided to record in Valencia all the compositions I had prepared for the tour.
It has been a pleasure to rekindle, with Perico Sambeat, the excitement of creating this quintet, after our collaboration in my first sextet back in 1991, which became my first album as a leader: Arturo Serra Sextet–Confidencial (also featuring original music).
And of course, it has been an honor to work with the great Danish musicians Martin Andersen and Daniel Frank, as well as with Albert Palau —one of the most versatile pianists I’ve had the fortune to know— completing this solid rhythm section.
Lastly, my personal thanks to Jordi Pujol, an tireless driving force whose passion for documenting our music never fades.
—Arturo Serra
