Benavent

The Benavent, Di Geraldo and Pardo trio emerged from the ashes of the Pardo y Benavent band, the sextet that made flamenco history and that came to an end in 1998 with an amazing tour of the most important jazz festivals from Vitoria to Montreal. It was in this sextet – a historic fact – improvisation on a flamenco beat was done for the first time, with a jazz attitude and based on the compositions of Pardo and Benavent contained in their previous albums.

The Benavent, Di Geraldo and Pardo trio emerged from the ashes of the Pardo y Benavent band, the sextet that made flamenco history and that came to an end in 1998 with an amazing tour of the most important jazz festivals from Vitoria to Montreal. It was in this sextet – a historic fact – improvisation on a flamenco beat was done for the first time, with a jazz attitude and based on the compositions of Pardo and Benavent contained in their previous albums.

Jazz bassist Carles Benavent and guitarist Josemi Carmona have combined talents for Nuevos Medios release Sumando, remaking the fusion of jazz and flamenco into some bright and breezy. Composing and performing most of the instrumentation of Sumando‘s nine tracks, Benavent and Carmona weave flamenco rhythms and tight, neat guitar work with some dreamy jazz themes to create a soulful mix.

Carles Benavent is a phenomenal musician, composer and arranger. His music is like movie soundtracks in terms of colours but in a song format. Perfect bass playing with passion and technique at the top!

This is Jazz album, with eastern and western infuences in the melodies and rhythms, including a reminiscence of flamenco. The Catalan bass player Carles Benavent is the most extroverted of Spain’s flamenco and jazz musicians. His work has brought him into contact with Miles Davis and Chick Corea, but also with Camarуn and Claude Nougaro and, particulary with Paco de Lucнa. “Aigua” brings together his most intimate compositions, each originating from a poetic experience.

Carles Benavent was born in 1954 in the Poblé Sec neighborhood in Barcelona. A totally self taught jazz bassist, he founded the group, "Música Urbana" with whom he recorded two albums. He came to create a new form of playing the electric bass "Flamenco style", using the pick to create a special type of alzapúa (style of plucking the strings with the finger and pick). He is one of the priveleged geniuses that is sought out by a long list of artists such as Chick Corea, Miles Davis and Paco de Lucía (to name a few), and with the ladder he recorded "Paco de Lucía interperpreta a Manuel de Falla". Since then the interaction between the two musicians has been consistent and fruitful.

The Paco de Lucía Sextet is a flamenco music sextet, formed by renowned guitarist Paco de Lucía and other musicians. The band has released three albums. In 1990 Paco de Lucia released Zyryab, an album made with his sextet and also featuring jazz pianist Chick Corea.

Flautist/saxophonist Jorge Pardo is a leading proponent of nuevo flamenco. On his fifth release, he pushes the envelope, presenting jazz standards and pop alongside more traditional compositions. "Caravan" lends itself well to rhythmic interpretations, but the arrangement degenerates midway into a dark-toned muddle. "'Round Midnight" and "Michelle," presented simply with flute and guitar, fare better, coming across as pleasant, "light jazz" renditions. The balance of the compositions are mostly by Pardo, and make his case more persuasively.