Barcelona is hosting the 53^rd Voll-Damm Jazz Festival from 20 October to 10 March. The programme offers sixty concerts at various iconic city venues, featuring leading jazz figures.

The stages chosen for this occasion are at the Conservatori del Liceu, L’Auditori (and its Sala 2), the Sala Barts, the [2] d’Apolo, the Palau de la Música, Luz de Gas and the Teatre-Auditori de Sant Cugat. The Harlem and the Milano Jazz Club will also be involved.

Highly ambitious line-up

Year after year, the organisers work very carefully on the line-up they present to the public. This year’s event is up to the usual high standard, with artists of the pedigree of Richard Bona and Alfredo Rodríguez, Cimafunk, José James, Jesse Davis, Marco Mezquida, Chucho Valdés and La Locomotora Negra. The latter will be winding up the programme with the final concert at the Palau de la Música.

El Conservatori takes centre stage again

El Conservatori del Liceu once again becomes the epicentre for jazz in Barcelona this year, thanks to the performances and masterclasses in the programme. To be precise, you can see 20 classes from artists in the line-up and 27 concerts. Figures include Melissa Aldana, Jakob Bro, Chris Potter, Avishai Cohen, Ambrose Akinmusire, Kenny Garrett, Tomatito, Chucho Valdés and many more. In addition, the director general of the school, Maria Serrat, will be receiving the festival’s gold medal for the collaboration between the school and the institution over the last ten years.

Another section to note is Carta Blanca, with concerts by Carne Lamela and Jurandir Santaba (Celebrating La Fusa), Gonzalo Del Val Trio with Benet Palet  (Cancionero), Kevin Díaz Double Tri, Oscar Latorre Quartet (A Pathway to Become) and Marco Mezquida.

Take advantage of the Descoberta multi-concert ticket (50 euros for 5 concerts), which will enable you to go to the concerts of five professors from El Conservatori: Carme Canela (in a duo with Jurandir Santana), Gonzalo del Val Trio with Benet Palet, Kevin Díaz Double Trio, Òscar Latorre and Marco Mezquida.

Flamenco section

The festival once again includes the flamenco section De Cajón! The new edition features Miguel Poveda (top class guest in the concert Tomatito Viviré), the guitarist Rafael Riqueni, Antonio Carmona, with a new show and his own production, and the three great guitarists Pepe Fernández, Jerónimo Maya and Rycardo Moreno, with Una Nit amb Solera. Other notable names in this section include Estrella Morente, Dorantes and Chano Domínguez-Diego Amador.

Joan Chamorro

This year’s Voll-Damm Jazz Festival will use its ‘Artist Portrait’ section to focus on Joan Chamorro, the founder of Barcelona’s Sant Andreu Jazz Band. This section offers five concerts, one of which will celebrate the first fifteen years of the band. The occasion will bring together the seventy artists who have been part of the band.

Aperitif at the Finestres

The festival will also see the Finestres bookshop offer a presentation of the Chá-cha-chá, un baile y una época, with José Arteaga, the publishing coordinator for the book and the Colecció Gladis Palmera; and Judy Cantor-Bavas, editor and translator of the English version. The celebrations will be complemented by DJ Bárbaro Crespo, aka Machito.

Photography and Jazz

The festival will be collaborating with the Fundació Mapfre’s KBr centre, with an exhibition devoted to the photographer Lee Friedlander. His work captures the faces of iconic figures in the history of jazz, such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin and Sarah Vaughan.

Practical information

Check out the festival programme here. Concert tickets are available at jazz.barcelona/ca/entrades.