‘Plaça Vella’, Josep Maria Farràs & Ignasi Terraza Trio

IGNASI TERRAZA & JOSEP MARIA FARRÀS
Cd ‘Plaça Vella‘ (Swit Records, 2009)

Plaça Vella. Two musicians, two generations, two instruments, two visions – but the same passion. The first time Ignasi Terraza found himself in the company of Tete Montoliu he just couldn’t resist asking the impossible question: “Maestro, what is jazz?” The answer lay, literally, in his hands, but if the pianist from Barcelona’s Carrer Muntaner had wanted to find an easy way of dealing with Ignasi’s question, all he had to do was to mention one name: trumpet player Josep Maria Farràs. “One of our country’s greatest jazz musicians,” in Tete’s words.

The Farràs-Terraza duo creates the perfect synthesis of past, present and future that gives shape to the small part our country has played in contributing to a genre of music that changed a century. There are so many names from whom they might have drawn their inspiration: Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Clifford Brown, Oscar Peterson, Lee Morgan, Ahmad Jamal … but if Farràs’s virtue lies in making them live on through his lips and Terraza’s in bringing them back to life with his fingers, what really sets them apart is their ability to keep the tradition sounding fresh and alive, like dressing up a vintage model in new clothes and lending a timelessness to a sound that remains as exciting today as on its first day.
Put it to the test – listen to this album and, without realising it, you will find yourself following the example of everyone else who has gone along with the answer to another of history’s great enigmas: “What is swing? It’s when Count Basie taps his feet.”

Pere Pons .

Plaça Vella:
Featuring Jesse Davis

Josep Maria Farràs: trompet
Ignasi Terraza: piano
Dimitri Skidanov: bass
Jean Pierre Derouard: drums
Jesse Davis: alto sax

The group
Josep Maria Farràs
Ignasi Terraza Trio