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JAMBOREE JAZZ HISTORY
JAZZ HISTORY
1960A REFERENCE CLUB IS BORN
In the early 1960s, the businessman Joan Rosselló turned the Brindis bar, located at number 17 Plaza Real, into a jazz cellar. At the suggestion of the critic Javier Coma, he named it Jamboree, a Zulu word adopted by the escort movement that means “gathering of tribes”. Jamboree was born to integrate the sessions of the Jubilée Jazz Club, a pioneering entity in the dissemination of the most daring jazz in Barcelona. From then until 1968, the Plaza Real cellar managed to put Barcelona on the tour circuit of the great stars of jazz. It also became famous among the intellectuals and the sailors of the VI Fleet that often docked in Barcelona.
THE ROOF OF THE JAMBOREE
The Jamboree in the 1960s was not only known for hosting great jazz figures, or for being the place where the soldiers of the US VI Fleet often landed, but also because championship revels were often organized, starring a very diverse. One of these wild nights, a group of visibly happy patrons decided to repaint the ceiling of the cellar, taking advantage of the fact that someone had found an open paint can. As they did not have brushes, the improvised plastic artists decided to smear their hands with paint, climb to the top of a ladder and start planting their palms on the ceiling, as if they were fingerprints. More than one, they say, left the room soaking wet. What no one suspected is that those paint stains in the shape of a hand would end up becoming part of the corporate image of the room.
BAKER, GRAPPELLI, ORNETTE, DEXTER, BENETT AND EL TETE
Bill Coleman, Kenny Drew, Chet Baker, Ponny Poindexter, Art Farmer, Lou Bennett, Stéphane Grappelli, Kenny Clarke, Ornette Coleman, René Thomas and Dexter Gordon are some of the names that graced the club stage during those years. Also, in 1966, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington performed at the “Palau de la Música” at the initiative of the Jamboree. Apart from the international stars, Catalan musicians such as Francesc Miralles, Enric Ponsa, Pere Ferré, Francesc Burrull, Salvador Font “Mantequilla” or Tete Montoliu himself were the regulars at the house, sharing space with resident foreign musicians – the singer Gloria Stewart , for example – or passing through the City.
NEW TIMES, NEW EXPERIENCES
In 1992, in the midst of Olympic fever, the lawyer Javier Cámara bought the premises that the Jamboree occupied to reopen it as a jazz cellar. Mas i Mas acquired ownership of the room in 1993. With a philosophy inherited from the early days of the Jamboree, when the jazz session was completed with a bit of dancing, the new managers of the room launched a proposal based on the daily celebration of two passes and, later, a dance session in the hands of the best black music DJs.
Jamboree was the home of the historical figures of our jazz – Ricardo Roda, Tete Montoliu or Frances Burrull-, of young promises of the time – the Rossy brothers, Perico Sambeat, Carme Canela, Albert Bover or Txell Sust-, and of international stars such as Chris Cheek, Ethan Iverson, Seamus Blake, Avishai Cohen, Kenny Garrett, George Cables, Jesse Davis, Lonje Smith, Abdu Salim, Antonio Hart, Peter King or even Cecil Taylor, Elvin Jones and Al Foster.
FROM BRAD MEHLDAU TO ELVIN JONES
The Jamboree was placed at the service of young artists from Barcelona who frequently went on first-name terms with promises from the New York scene. One of those emerging figures, Brad Mehldau, recorded one of his first albums in the Plaza Real cellar. The Jamboree was the home of the historic figures of our jazz – Ricardo Roda, Tete Montoliu or Frances Burrull-, of young promises of the time – the Rossy brothers, Perico Sambeat, Carme Canela, Albert Bover or Txell Sust-, and of international stars. like Chris Cheek, Ethan Iverson, Seamus Blake, Avishai Cohen, Kenny Garrett, George Cables, Jesse Davis, Lonje Smith, Abdu Salim, Antonio Hart, Peter King or even Cecil Taylor, Elvin Jones and Al Foster.
GOLDEN JUDGES, GOLD MEDAL
On February 2, 2010, the Jamboree received the Gold Medal from the Barcelona City Council. The award coincided with the club's 50th anniversary and with the period in which Pierre Bechet was the Jamboree programmer. Bechet, who replaced Judit Llimós, designed a special program to celebrate her 50th anniversary. During this stage, totems from the category of Jerry Bergonzi, Jimmy Cobb -with Joe DeFrancesco and Larry Carvell-, Al Foster and Jesse Davis, passed through the Plaza Real cellar, apart from new values such as Noah Gordon, Christian Scott and Melissa Aldana. National musicians such as Andrea Motis, Marco Mezquida and Celeste Alías also made their debut.
NEW TIMES, NEW INITIATIVES
In 2013 Pere Pons took over the programming. The Jamboree then began a new stage with specific cycles - of artists, instruments, genres and even cinema - and two festivals: Bolero and the San Miguel Jamboree Jazz Club. Artists from other genres -Joan Manuel Serrat, Paco Ibáñez, Santiago Auseron, Martirio…-, jazz glories -Lou Donaldson, Lee Konitz, Pat Martino, Ernie Wats, Paquito D'Rivera, Enrico Rava passed through the Plaza Real cellar. , Gregory Porter, Hermeto Pascoal, Pedro Iturralde…-, new national jazz talents -Lluc Casares, Andrea Motis…- and avant-garde jazz figures – Agustín Fernández, Tim Berne, Atomic, Ken Vandermark…
WTF, MORE THAN A JAM
The musical activity of the room was not only reduced to the daily program -365 days a year- with two jazz sets, but it also extended to blues, with a concert every Sunday of this genre by a resident band and , between 2001 and 2017, with a jam session, called WTF!, in which every Monday jazz performers mixed with hip-hop, electronic music, Groove and world music artists. Directed by Aurelio Santos, the WTF! It staged dozens of young promises of the moment -Raynald Colom, Llibert Fortuny and Marc Ayza, among others- and, above all, hundreds of young fans gathered who in many cases came into contact with Jazz for the first time.
TOWARDS THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY
With an eye on 2020, the year in which the Jamboree will be 60 years old, 2018 commemorated the 25th anniversary as part of the Mas i Mas Group with two agreements: with the Global Music Foundation, to celebrate a music course with international artists , and with Pizza Express, one of the most important jazz clubs in London, to open an exchange of programs with the best of both scenes. The Jamboree at the end of the second decade of the 21st century continues to be a benchmark club in the Catalan capital, a venue open to the latest trends in black music, with a range of styles ranging from blues to groove, passing through funk, soul and, obviously, jazz.
NEW IMAGE AND COLLABORATION WITH JAZZTRÒNICA XS
Despite everything, and against all odds, Jamboree continues to program live music daily, remains strong, and has been able to stay open amidst so much uncertainty. We are proud of the work we have accomplished. In 2021 we were able to hold 165 concerts in the month of August at the Mas i Mas festival, and we continue to work every day to be able to resume activity as normally as possible while the authority allows it. Jamboree currently schedules more concerts than before the pandemic, and we have extended the 7pm and 9pm time slots.
In the month of March 2022 we started a collaboration with Jazztrònica. Mas i Mas and Jazztrònica have teamed up to bring to the Jamboree a sample of what is being heard at Barcelona's leading electronic jazz festival. Every month, the garden of the TNC is the scene of a daytime event, Jazztrònica, which brings together the best of the national and international electronic jazz scene —musicians and DJs— and where there are also gastronomic activities, a record fair , sale of clothes, art objects, etc. The Jazztrònica Festival stops at the Jamboree for the first time, in a different format, called Jazztrònica XS. Every Friday and Saturday, at 11 pm, you have an appointment with the best national and international electronic jazz, with styles such as nu-jazz, or with jazz and hip hop, R&B, drum'n'bass and a long etcetera of 21st century music to dance and listen to at the same time.
What do they say about us?
The space maintains the charm of a lifetime, an emblematic venue of Jazz in Barcelona, it has the perfect capacity to make you feel comfortable and allows you to chew every note that comes out of the stage. At the same time you can have great musicians like Jorge Rossy, and young artists like Orígins Cuartet.
Emili Julián
I love Thursdays with Clarence Becker!!! Dance funky forever!!!!
Lourdes Albiol
We love this place, it has a lot of magic. The room, when you enter, apart from being very charming, has great acoustics. The tickets are very affordable and they always bring very good artists. We recommend it 100x100 for lovers of music and jazz.
Debora Benítez
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