Expatiperro

One of the things that I love about Barcelona is that there's always some sort of cultural event going on, and this month's featured one is the Barcelona Jazz Festival. I love jazz, though I'm a bit ashamed at how casual I am about pursuing my interest in it- ask me how a certain song goes, or who wrote a specific piece, and I'm usually at a loss. But since there are events going on all around town through the end of November, I figured that now would be as good of a time as any to five into the scene and check out some groups.

Last night, I went with my friend Carlos to see Herbie Hancock and his 5-piece band play a three hour set at the Palau de la Musica Catalana. I have to admit that while I've definitely heard of Herbie Hancock before, the only song of his I can actively remember listening to is a pop duet with John Mayer (which in my defense is quite kick-ass). But of the 6 songs played, I recognized the melodies of two or three of them, which pleasantly surprised me. I guess all those jazz concerts at UHS exposed me to a pretty wide variety of artists, though I could have learned a lot by actually reading the programs instead of making paper airplanes out of them...

Anyways, the show was absolutely fantastic. Hancock got his start in Miles Davis' band, so there are similarities between his sounds and Davis', but Hancock throws in a little more funk, which takes the form of electric piano riffs, synthesized beats, and some really bizarre rhythms. By far the most interesting song was "Seventeens", which is in 17/4. That is, 17 beats to a measure- or in Herbie's words, "trece más que cuatro... muy dificil"- when most songs only have 4 beats. If it was as hard to play as it was for me to count the beats, I have mad respect for the band. (For comparison's sake, Dave Brubeck's "Take Five", in 5/4 time, was groundbreaking when it was first played. This is Brubeck, times 3 and change.)

While the music was top quality, the show was almost stolen by the venue. The Palau de la Mùsica Catalana is a modernista masterpiece, designed by Domènech i Montaner, a contemporary of Gaudí. While the outside is more restrained compared to other modernista buildings (for instance, Casa Batllò, on the right in the picture), the inside can only be described as whimsical, in the best possible sense. The rainbow-colored stained glass windows on every wall give the space an open, breezy feel, and the huge skylight that drops down in the middle of the ceiling seems to connect the hall with the world outside. There are mosaics on almost every surface, and giant sculptures burst out from the walls (occasionally leading to obstructed views, as I found out in March when I went to a guitar concert at the Palau). Some pictures I took in March are below, but to get a better sense of the space, check out this website: