Magazine Sixty Music Review with Echoes Of Spain – From Segovia and Sabicas to Miles Davis and John Coltrane – él Records

Greg Fenton reviews Echoes Of Spain

I love this rich series of albums that Cherry Red and friends do so well. In part because of the wealth of music I get introduced to through the experience, especially when it comes to vintage music I’m not always familiar with. But also because it lets my mind stop wandering around the information superhighway to focus on the art of such wonderful sounds – be they old, very old, or new.

Inspired by the Miles Davis album of the same name, although Django Reinhardt must get a mention for his timeless composition emanating from decades before. Sketches Of Spain created along with Gil Evans featured numbers such as Flamenco Sketches where pianist Bill Evans’s melancholy brilliance opens the score before the horns blow and the bass crumbles your soul. What follows is a masterful curation of mood and elevated emotion as the album gets played. Then dipping into a succession of classical greats from Ravel (including his Bolero) to the sheer pleasure of hearing Debussy on the second CD the music proceeds to traverse inspired highs and lows. By the time you land on the third a new world opens up with artists, some of which I’m new to but I’m so glad I’ve been able to discover, like the wonderful pianist Alicia de Larrocha awaits.

Echoes Of Spain as the title indicates is about the musical and cultural influence that the country has had with these artists. Listening and absorbing is about the true experience of music to excite and inform, even if you might not readily think so at first glance.

Release: February 16
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