Itziar Yagüe & Paul San Martin

SingerItziar Yagüe and pianist Paul San Martin get together to pay tribute to great blues legend, Bessie Smith, in an intimate format that recreates the spirit of the shows and original recordings of the 1920s. Following the rage reviews received for their album, Sugar in my bowl – A tribute to Bessie Smith (2025), recorded live and released on vinyl, both artists will present at Jazzaldia the must-know gems of the greatest blueswoman the world has ever known.

Paul San Martin and Itziar Yagüe started playing together in 2021. As great admirers of Bessie, the idea of creating a duo for piano and vocals to make the figure of the blueswoman more widely known, immediately occurred to them. The project came to fruition in the summer of 2022, and after many concerts and festivals, at which it was further developed and enhanced, they decided to record the album they will present at this 60th edition of Jazzaldia.

As Yagüe and San Martin themselves put it: “Bessie Smith was the embodiment of blues, the very essence of it. Just like popular American music of the XX century owes a lot to this genre, blues also owes a lot to Bessie”.