Via de la Plata

Playing an album by a Spanish pianist on ACT Music, you might immediately expect to hear some variety of flamenco jazz. This new release from Daniel García’s trio has both of those ingredients but much more as well. While the guitar of Gerardo Núñez casts shades of Andalusia, Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and Israeli-born clarinettist Anat Cohen add intense colours of their own.

The ten tracks include García’s own compositions and works by Manuel de Falla and Paco de Lucía, among others. They guilefully balance composed and improvised elements, resulting in songs that enjoy the creative flights of improvisation, without straying too far from their melodic focus. Maalouf’s trumpet adds a distinctly Middle-Eastern touch to Falla’s famous ‘Canción del Fuego Fatuo’, while Cohen’s almost duduk-like clarinet creates a plaintive, keening feel on the romantic original ‘Pai Lan’. The well-balanced, crystal clear recording adds to the beauty of this original and melodically rich album. Daniel García is already considered one of Spain’s most promising young musicians in the flamenco/jazz domains. With this unassumingly original release he reveals something of the tremendous breadth and depth those oft-paired genres encompass.