Spanish jazz players don’t like Don Quixote. That is the first major conclusion of the study published in a recent issue of the Anales Cervantinos magazine of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), and which is entitled The adventures of Don Quixote in the world of jazz: 200 examples and some observations. Prepared by the Cervantist and Germanist Hans Christian Hagedorn (Bremen, 1963) from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the balance of jazz compositions inspired by the work of Cervantes by our musicians is reduced to eight, compared to the 56 that were computed in the United States, the 26 only in France and the 18 in Germany. The study, prepared over the last six years, lists some 200 musically argued compositions in the Cervantine novel, analyzing repertoires ranging from 1925 to 2022.
Likewise, the author delves into this relationship not only by country, but by format (if they are simple compositions or complete works or suites, if they are instrumental works, also vocal), or by those chapters or events of this most fruitful literary masterpiece for composers. Finally, the implemented methodology and a list of all the localized issues are provided.
“The idea for this study arose in 2016, when I wrote a first article, much shorter and more limited, on the reflection of Don Quixote in jazz,” Hans Christian Hagedorn tells La Lectura. «Between 2007 and 2016 he had coordinated several monographic books on the impact of the Cervantine novel on the literature and culture of other countries, a project in which more than 80 researchers from all over the world have collaborated over the years» .
He then realized that there were many studies on the presence of El Quijote in classical music, but almost nothing that had to do with popular music, much less jazz. «In the popular music section, there is a whole treasure to discover: hundreds of compositions, some more interesting than others, of course». And he quotes: “From Julio Iglesias to Coldplay, going through people like Gordon Lightfoot or, back in Spain, Mägo de Oz.” Of course, the professor and scholar was especially interested in jazz. «Not only because of personal affinity but because he was curious to find out if in the serious music of the 20th and 21st centuries there was, beyond classical music, interest in the first modern novel».
Given the revealing fact of the little work created from Don Quixote in Spanish jazz, the author confesses: «I did not expect it at all, it was a great surprise to discover this lack of interest. I spent a lot of time diving through catalogs and record references. In fact, among the eight songs I found there are some whose link with jazz is more or less superficial».
Waiting for new airs and currents that move the blades of the mill, the expert reaffirms his diagnosis: in Spanish jazz there is little interest in the most universal work of Spanish literature ». The professor can’t find a scientific explanation, so he points out his own hypothesis. «On the one hand, the difficulties that Spanish jazz faced since the Civil War and during the dictatorship surely prevented musicians from undertaking complex projects, such as the composition of works inspired by literary works. On the other, I intuit that, after the death of Franco and the Transition, and with the arrival of democracy, jazz musicians perhaps sought internationalization, orientation outside national borders, to get rid of a past perceived as too limited and enclosed. ». According to Hagedorn, in other countries that had not lived through the experience of the dictatorship, Don Quixote was free of connotations. «However, what cannot be explained with these provisional reflections is why in current Spanish jazz, let’s say in the jazz of the last 20 years, this has not changed».
Indeed, the lack of modern creations inspired by Cervantes’s novel is striking, especially if we compare these data with those of other universal authors, such as Lorca, much more present in the repertoires of jazz players, both here and abroad.
According to the report, the episode of Don Quixote most present in jazz is the fight against the windmills, followed by Sancho’s governorship of the Barataria island, the acquisition of Mambrino’s golden helmet, and the adventure in the cave. of Montesinos. Among the composers of long echo, the names of Tom Harrell, Kenny Wheeler, Egberto Gismonti, Krzysztof Komeda, Michel Legrand, Vince Mendoza, Mitsuaki Kanno or Ron Westray stand out in the study, as well as interpreters of Cervantes themes such as Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie , Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Wynton Marsalis, Charles Mingus, Oscar Peterson or Wayne Shorter.
Of the eight pieces detected by Spanish musicians, most correspond to a black and white era that finds among its authors Eleuterio Yribarren and his Red Hot Panamerican Jazz Orchestra, the Demon’s Jazz Orchestra, Augusto Algueró or Juan Carlos Calderón. Among the “contemporary” compositions, those by Carlos Maza and the stage creation group Mal Pelo stand out, which has just premiered a piece on La vida es sueño at the Teatro de la Comedia.
Hagedorn also echoes the collaborations of Spanish musicians in jazz work by international groups and artists, in the case of Emilio Parrilla with the Dutch group 66 Whales, or the guitarist Carles GR with the French double bassist Pierre Boussaguet. “It is already known that, in the blacksmith’s house, a wooden spoon,” continues the professor. «Although it is not easy to face or dialogue with an icon of literature, so deeply rooted in the imaginary of this country. Sometimes excessive respect can leave little room for creativity.
“Over the last 400 years, Don Quixote has inspired, throughout the world, a plethora of musical works of all genres and styles,” says Hans Christian Hagedorn in Don Quixote’s Adventures in the World of Jazzen. “From classical composers such as Telemann, Mendelssohn, Falla and Ravel to albums or songs by well-known groups such as Inti-Illimani, Magazine 60, Mägo de Oz, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Engenheiros do Hawaii and Coldplay, or musicians such as Gordon Lightfoot, Julio Iglesias, Nik Kershaw and Björn Afzelius”.
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