Following the release of his self-titled debut album in 2021, the Basque trumpeter/musician returns to the path set by his predecessor with this remarkable Azken Uda. Recorded at Sol de Sants Studios in Barcelona by Alberto Pérez on October 11 and 12, this work features Juan De Diego himself on trumpet and flugelhorn, alongside Toni Saigi on piano, Pere Loewe on double bass, and Ramon Prats on drums. The album highlights the undeniable beauty of Juan De Diego’s compositions as they navigate the realm of contemporary jazz—vivid and effervescent music with a subtle Be-Bop intentionality that reveals an organic, flexible, and vibrant character throughout its grooves.
From Marinela unpredictable developments to Aterpe´s secret passages, the band elegantly and dynamically navigates its way to Ali Kinshasan, a poignant tribute to the legendary 1974 boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali (The Rumble in the Jungle). This piece stands as both an anti-Vietnam War statement and a milestone in the fight for civil rights. The melancholic Azken uda, dedicated to the artist’s mother, is adorned with sonic poetry, leading us to the improvised brushstrokes of Zirimiri. Juan De Diego’s trumpet and Toni Saigi’s piano explore new melodic horizons on the nocturnal and smoky Tifliseko gizona. The band play the soundtrack to La montagne infidèle, a lost documentary by French filmmaker and theorist Jean Epstein that recreated the 1923 eruption of Mount Etna. Inspired by the same event, Juan De Diego pens the delicate La lava va, showcasing his most colorful Brazilian-influenced side on Txefinho, before bringing this second Grebalariak project to an end with the unpredictable and ethereal Bagoaz.
A note between silences, the beauty of an instant, time intervals that inevitably slip away. Taking a breath, imagining new forms, reclaiming who we are and the purpose behind what we do. Returning to that invisible refuge in memory of one final moment, one last word, one last summer.
