Is there some/lots of jazz in southern Spain and Portugal?

[Joeontheguitar]

From January till May, my wife and I will be in the south of Spain and Portugal in our van, to avoid the coldest months.
It is also a good opportunity to work on our duo-skills and build a repertoire. We hope to be able to play in some small venues as a background duo. Even if it's the cafetaria of a camping, we're just happy to be able to get some 'stage hours'.

Does anyone of you jazz players live in these areas, or is anyone of you familiar with the jazz scene over there? I'd love to participate in some jams if possible.
It's also a practical thing: we have a Bose S1 Pro amplifier/PA that can be used for guitar and vocals at the same time. However, I'd prefer to bring a proper amp for jams and for a better sound for our performances. Storage space is extremely limited in the van, so I'd only bring it if I'm sure that I will use it.

Any advice?

[docsteve]

I thought that the south of Spain is Flamenco country? However, there are any number of musicians who blend Flamenco and Jazz. Nino Josele is highly recommended.

You should be able to find music in Cadiz and Jerez de la Frontera easily. In bigger cities, where you get more tourists, they may be better hidden. In Sevilla, the Triana district seems to be a good start. Be aware that music often starts around midnight.

Good luck to you and have a great time!

[Joeontheguitar]

Thanks Steve! Yes, the south of Spain is indeed flamenco country. I think we'll have to start looking locally and try to get as much duo-repertoire under our belt to keep things going.

[Peter C]

The cold months are low season on the coast, so not so many people around looking for entertainment. If you're going to be in Andalusia, maybe check out the live scene in Granada (I had a link which isn't working now - search for "locales de jazz" in the city). Barcelona in the Northeast is Spanish jazz city par excellence.

If you're doing a guitar-singer duo thing, you might get a gig in a café, but that obviously depends on how you come across.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

The Hot Club of Portugal in Lisbon is said to be Europe's oldest jazz club. They have free jam sessions on Tuesdays run by a pro, and they have live jazz Wed-Sat from 10PM to 2AM. It's a good place to meet people and become known. Pajinas Tantas is a nice little jazz bar there with a trio Tue-Sun nights, but I don't know if they have a jam. There's live jazz nightly at a hostel / bar called Alface Hall. We've never been there, but it's said to be a very friendly place. I think the Bibo Bar in Lisbon still has an open jam on Thursday nights.

Porto's a neat little town north of Lisbon and so a bit colder. But there's a jazz club called HotFive that has had jams on Sundays in the past and probably still does. There are a lot of little plazas all over Porto with cafes around them. There's so much good space for musicians that we were surprised we never saw a single one at a cafe or resraurant in the week we were there - no buskers outside and no live music in or outside of the cafes. Casa do Livro is a great jazz bar, and Mirajazz is areally cool wine bar with live jazz.

There's also a wonderful guitar shop called Casa da Guitarra in Porto that's much more than just a guitar store. They have a performance stage on which they host frequent Fado concerts, and they have an in house luthier who makes some beautiful Portuguese style CGs. They even had a very nice 7 string when we were there. The owner and his wife are very nice people who graciously made room for us at the sold-out Fado concert the night we discovered the shop. One of the two guitarists in the "house band" (which consists of 2 guitarists) is also the luthier, and the other is a bass player in a local band. My wife and I had a wonderful time talking to them all. I suspect they'd be very happy to help you learn more about the local jazz scene than I could ever have learned in 2 weeks in Portugal.

Fado is a perfect vehicle for a vocal / guitar duo. The style is kind of a doleful Portuguese blues, and there's a current and growing fado-jazz trend that synthesizes the two genres. There was a recent article (last year?) in Jazz Times about Julio Resende, an active proponent. Check it out - it may be just what you need, and fado-jazz is so new that you can lend your own styles and preferences to it to make it yours. It might be the hook that gets you noticed. Enjoy!!

[David B]

Valencia appears to have a strong jazz scene. I'm friends with a couple of excellent jazz musicians, vocalist Sara Dowling and bassist Dario Di Lecce, who have just relocated from London to Valencia.

[Peter C]

Yes, the last time I checked, there was a good scene in Valencia, as indeed there is in Madrid. The OP was asking about the South, however. Maybe check out clubs in Sevilla and Málaga, too.

[Joeontheguitar]

Thanks all for your time and effort you've put in the replies.
One more practical thing: we have the Bose S1 Pro which we can use for both guitar and vocals. Guitar sounds reasonable and we don't need power, since it has an on board battery. However, if we were doing a 'real' gig, a proper amp might work better. I can bring my Mambo 10, but space is very limited in our van and temperature plus humidity literally fly of the scale pretty much every day. What would you guys do?

[David B]

Thanks all for your time and effort you've put in the replies.
One more practical thing: we have the Bose S1 Pro which we can use for both guitar and vocals. Guitar sounds reasonable and we don't need power, since it has an on board battery. However, if we were doing a 'real' gig, a proper amp might work better. I can bring my Mambo 10, but space is very limited in our van and temperature plus humidity literally fly off the scale pretty much every day. What would you guys do?

Get yourself a preamp/amp modelling pedal and run that into the Bose. If you like a Fender amp sound, a pro friend was just about raving about his new Universal Audio Dream '65. He's used to the whole Kemper/Axe-FX setups in his work and rates the UA pedal above them for ease of use and quality of that specific tone. UA also do tweed and Vox style models.

[Lionelsax]

Valencia appears to have a strong jazz scene. I'm friends with a couple of excellent jazz musicians, vocalist Sara Dowling and bassist Dario Di Lecce, who have just relocated from London to Valencia.

My parents are from Valencia, 12 years ago, I had spent three months there.
In every place you could find whatever you want.
Forget the cliché of flamenco.
Great trumpeters and saxophonists, fabulous percussionists, real singers, a lot of repertoire.
You will find a lot of musicians who play for real.
There is a strong tradition of local bands, that's the way people learn music.
A lot of repertoire, traditional (not flamenco), double reed instruments (strange oboe) and percussion + marching bands (woodwind and brass instruments).
Again, forget the cliché of Flamenco.
I met there, metal guitarists who knew what a jazz standard was.
I even jammed with someone who played with Jerry Lee Lewis.
Great people there ! You can't be wrong if you go there !

Unfortunately you want to be in the South...