Barcelona’s Jamboree jazz venue celebrates 50 years with a street party

Barcelona (ACN).- The Mas i Mas Festival, that will conclude Wednesday the 1st of September, celebrated the 50-year anniversary of the famous local venue Jamboree last night. The Festival organised a commemorative outdoor party where renowned Barcelona cava was served in the city centre’s Plaça Reial. A concert took place with performances by the Barcelona Big Blues Band, the Big Acoustic Band and other big names in the local jazz scene. Afterwards, Plaça Reial converted itself into an improvisation stage, emulating jams from ‘What the fuck!’, typical on Monday nights in Jamboree. At 21:00 the party continued inside the venue.

The Jamboree venue, one of the most important referents of the Barcelona jazz scene, commemorated its 50-year anniversary with a very special celebration. The cava cellar moved outdoors to Plaça Reial, a breath of fresh air from the dark, smoky interior where it usually resides. The artistic director of Jamboree, Pierre Bechet, stated in an interview with ACN that the club “is known throughout the world, is full of history and has something that attracts musicians from all over”. Regarding the venue’s survival and the new public coming through, Bechet said that before jazz primarily attracted adults, but since a few years ago there has been rejuvenation. He added that it is not only the public who is now younger, but also the musicians. With this, he explained, “there is a new generation of musicians in Europe as well as an emerging Catalan scene”, a similar phenomenon that has occurred in cities like New York. Last night was only one of the festivities of the anniversary celebration organized by the Mas i Mas Festival. On Wednesday, The 1^st of September, the festival will close with a concert by Soledad Jiménez entitled ‘Two Gardenias’ (Two Gardenias) in the Palau de la Música.

Three proposals

At 17:00 in Plaça Reial, the renowned members of the Big Acoustic Band began the Jamboree homage. Directed by Alfons Carrascosa, the band joins together jazz veterans Matthew Simon and Sergi Vergés and the young talents of Pablo Arias and Víctor Correa. Their one-hour performance captivated the audience, which consisted of many tourists passing through the city centre. At 18:00, the famous Barcelona Big Blues Band took the stage, a pure representation of the jazz genre that made Jamboree what it is today. Led by the energetic double bassist Iván Kovacevic and with a very upbeat music, the band filled the square with movement. Finally came the moment of improvisation with a jam session directed by Aurelio Santos, along the lines of the ‘What the fuck!’ jams that have been organized weekly at the venue for 9 years. Playing with the limits of jazz by mixing elements of funk and hip-hop, the musicians really got the crowd on their feet. The party later moved inside the venue. Pierre Bechet said that every Monday some 200 to 300 people would get together in Jamboree, where “musicians from all over would call Aurèlio, the venue’s coordinator, to participate”.

A satisfactory balance

The Mas i Mas Festival will conclude its 8^th edition after over 470 concerts in Barcelona during the month of August. A total of seven venues throughout the city- La Pedrera, L'Auditori, the Palau de la Música, Jamboree, Tarantos, Luz de Gas and Moog- have made the various musical activities possible. The success of this edition, which had many sold out shows, confirms a good health for the festival’s future. They plan to include the rock genre in its next edition, explained its director, Joan Mas.