TRAKAS-password: groove

It’s no secret: Jazz
musicians seem to be condemned to combining various musical versions of
themselves as an indispensable strategy for survival. From one project to the
next, Juan de Diego is gradually giving us the clues to his restless, versatile
and always interesting personality. The title of this album –Erbestea, which means “exile” in Basque–
may predispose us towards a kind of transcendence, but it is cushioned by warm
explosions of groove, brimming with humour and rhythmic tension within a
nuance-rich whole.

The references of the best
soul-jazz traditions are undoubtedly visible: one is easily reminded of Donald
Byrd, who gave up hard-bop and went in for funk, Horace Silver or Lee Morgan,
classic examples of groove with substance and muscle without any beating about
the bush or tricks. This is an environment in which Juan De Diego copes
comfortably, not in vain does he regularly recall the Blue Note sound in De Diego
Brothers, the project co-led with his brother Victor.

Juan
de Diego trumpet, flugelhorn. 
Jordi Matas, guitar.
Abel Boquera, Hammond
B3 organ.
Caspar St. Charles, drums.
Dani Domínguez, drums in Calçotsalda.

Disc recorded at the Nómada 57 studios in Barcelona,

on
25 and 26 January, 2012.

Mixing
done at the Nómada 57 studios in Barcelona,

on 23 and 29 February 2012.

Mastering
done in March 2012
by Marco Rostagno at Hitmakers Mastering, Barcelona.