Chicuelo & Marco Mezquida

“Del alma”

(Self Released)

Juan Gomez ‘Chicuelo’ – acoustic guitar, Marco Mezquida – piano

with Paco de Mode – cajon, percussion

In May 2025, at that year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival, I witnessed a quite brilliant performance at the Parabola Arts Centre by a trio led by the Spanish pianist and composer Marco Mezquida and his ‘Tornado’ trio, named for his 2023 album release of the same name. Also featuring Japanese bassist Masa Kamaguchi and drummer / percussionist Ramon Prats the trio received a total standing ovation for the brilliance of their performance – literally everybody in the building was on their feet – and this for an act that most of the audience probably hadn’t even heard of previously. It was my personal “Gig of the Festival” - and that of many others I suspect. My review, forming part of my Festival coverage, can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/saturday-at-cheltenham-jazz-festival-03-05-2025

After the show I purchased a copy of the “Tornado” album and also chatted briefly with the affable Mezquida, who speaks excellent English. I’m pleased to report that the “Tornado” recording sounds just as good and just as exciting in the home listening environment and I consider that the group that made it should be regarded as one the world’s premier piano trios.

Born in Menorca and now based in Barcelona the thirty eight year old Mezquida is a prolific musician and composer and has already released thirty albums as a co-leader or co-leader and appears as a sideman on nearly seventy more. He’s performed all over the world and although currently little known in the UK that looks set to change following his trio’s dazzling performances at Cheltenham and later at the 2025 EFG London Jazz Festival To learn more about the busy Mezquida’s numerous musical activities please visit his website; https://marcomezquida.com/

During my visit to the 2025 EFG LJF I was very much tempted to go and see Mezquida and the Tornado Trio again. Fresh from their Cheltenham triumph they had been booked to play in the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre. Suspecting that their performance would essentially be the same as at Cheltenham and wondering what fresh superlatives I would be able to find to say about it I ultimately opted for another event in the same building, the ACT Records double bill of UK saxophonist Emma Rawicz’s quintet followed by the German pianist Michael Wollny’s trio at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

This was another excellent event and the performance of the Wollny trio was particularly brilliant, on a par with Mezquida’s at Cheltenham. Nevertheless it did seem a little perverse for the Festival to schedule two of Europe’s leading piano trios opposite each other on the same night and in the same complex. As it turned out anybody who actually bought tickets for each event could have seen both piano trios back to back. Mezquida’s gig had started half an hour earlier than the ACT double bill and during the interval between Rawicz and Wollny the Mezquida audience were exiting. It would certainly have been interesting to see the two pianists on the same bill and to make comparisons. It might even have represented a better double bill than Wollny and Rawicz, who were scheduled together because they share the same record label, but whose groups were very different musically.

It was during what was ‘half time’ for me that I was hailed by Colin May, a regular Jazzmann contributor. I wasn’t expecting to see him but he told me that he’d made a spur of the moment decision to see the Mezquida gig purely on the strength of what I’d written about the Cheltenham show. He’d also purchased a copy of “Tornado” and had spoken to Marco, telling him that the reason he was there was because of my review. Colin knew that I was attending the Wollny gig and on learning that I was in the building Marco was keen to meet me again and thank me for the Cheltenham review, so Colin took me to Marco’s merch stand and we chatted amiably for a second time. Marco was keen that I should also review his latest recording, “Del alma”, a collaboration with the flamenco guitarist Juan Gomez, popularly known as Chicuelo. I’m therefore grateful to Marco for gifting me a review copy of the “Del alma” CD.

Born in Barcelona Chicuelo plays a brand of Catalan flamenco and is considered to be one of the genre’s premier guitarists and composers. He has performed with many other leading flamenco artists and as also written for and directed flamenco dance groups.

Released in 2024 “Del alma” is his third collaboration with Mezquida following 2017’s “Conexión” and “No hay dos sin tres” (2019). The new recording sees the core duo augmented by cajon player and percussionist Paco de Mode, who also appeared on both the previous releases.

“Del alma” features seven new original compositions jointly written by Mezquida and Chicuelo. Things get underway with “Najando”, a lively opener that sees Chiquelo giving immediate notice of his ability and status as a flamenco guitar virtuoso as he and the equally brilliant Mezquida enter into a series of scintillating exchanges, bouncing ideas off each other throughout he track, aided by the propulsive rhythmic support of de Mode on cajon and percussion. The joy that the musicians take in their playing is evident in the delighted whoops and other cries of encouragement that can heard periodically throughout the performance.

“Carrer del perill”  combines vibrant rhythms with strong melodies and more virtuoso playing. Mezquida enjoys more solo space than previously, his playing simultaneously virtuosic and lyrical. Meanwhile Chiquelo impresses both as an accompanist and as a soloist. As a rhythm guitarist his flamenco style ‘comping’ helps to fuel Mezquida’s creativity and Chiquelo also enjoys his own moments as a soloist. The guitarist is also aided in his rhythmic endeavours by de Mode, whose percussion also comes briefly to the fore on occasions.

“De ida y vuelta” is less frenetic, but exhibits the kind of smouldering intensity that distinguishes both flamenco and Argentinian tango. de Mode takes something of a back seat here, allowing Mezquida and Chiquelo to express themselves subtly but passionately, the pace of the music increasing in the later stages of the piece, before subsiding again towards the close.

A passage of unaccompanied guitar introduces “De seda y miel”, which initially exhibits similar characteristics before lightening up in terms of mood and increasing in terms of pace with both Chiquelo and Mezquida delivering virtuoso individual solos plus a series of dazzling instrumental exchanges. The faithful de Mode also makes number of telling rhythmic contributions.

The attractively melodic “Huellas del sentir” sees Chicuelo and Mezquida working effectively in tandem with empathic support from de Mode. Naturally there are some excellent individual moments too with both Chicuelo and Mezquida delivering solos that are simultaneously lyrical and virtuosic.

“Alalimon” displays similar qualities at first before eventually erupting joyously with dazzling solos from both guitar and piano, with de Mode providing considerable rhythmic impetus on cajon.

The music concludes with the beautiful “El faro de los deseos” which closes the album on a serene and lyrical note with delightfully melodic solos from piano and guitar. After some of the earlier musical fireworks it’s bit like rounding things off with a ballad for the encore. There’s an elegiac quality to this piece makes it the perfect choice to end the album.

“Del alma” is an impressive and very classy piece of work that features some intelligent writing from the co-composers allied to some genuinely exceptional playing. The music variously draws on the flamenco, jazz and classical traditions but to these ears it’s primarily a flamenco record, not a genre that I’m particularly familiar with I must confess.

I’ll admit that I prefer to hear Mezquida’s playing in a more obvious jazz setting but nevertheless there is much to enjoy here. The writing is rich and admirably varied within the flamenco context and the playing of both Mezquida and Chiquelo is superb, with de Mode adding undemonstrative but highly capable rhythmic support. The rapport between the three musicians, honed over more than ten years of playing together, is exceptional and should they ever visit the UK it would be an exciting prospect to see them performing live. With Mezquida now having a ‘foot in the door’ following his terrific performances with the Tornado Trio it’s entirely possible that this might even happen.

 

 

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