As a result of a small collaboration at the Almuñécar festival, the chemistry between the singer Pepa Niebla and the Ignasi Terraza Trio was a fact. The vocalist from Granada was presenting her latest album with her band while the members of the trio were touring the new Andrea Motis album in quintet format.
It was 2020, and they played the songs I can't say/Teaneck, by Adderley and Caswell, and Luiza by Antonio Carlos Jobim. They did not know each other personally until then, but the experience motivated them to meet in the future. So, the following year they got down to work and the thing grew until they gave shape to an album, On the edge of the world.
The result means that one of the most indisputable rhythmic formations of national jazz – in addition to the pianist Ignasi Terraza, is completed by Esteve Pi on drums and Horacio Fumero on double bass – has joined forces with the wide, generous and modulated voice of Pepa Niebla. That first record result (Swit Records) appeared two weeks ago and they are presenting it live, like this afternoon (8 pm) at the ONCE Auditorium in Barcelona, where they will be limited to its repertoire.
The blind pianist admits that until then in Almuñecar he had not heard of her. The following year the trio and the singer, who has been living in Brussels for a few years, had their first concert at Torre Ramona, in Subirats. And from then on we were outlining the repertoire. “I started by proposing some songs to do and then her. I included two unpublished songs of mine; one is It's time for a change, which I had recorded a long time before as Temps de canvi which was an instrumental".
And to that he added "a song with lyrics and music that I had kept in the drawer for a long time, Tell me a story, which was a commission that they made me years ago for some literary awards but that were suspended the day before and there it stayed. And it fits very well with her voice." Then there are Argentine songs like Alfonsina y el mar or Peces de luz, or a Cuban ballad like En la orilla del mundo. Or a song by Michele Legrand like Les moulins de mon coeur.
In addition, “originally I wanted to sing some songs in Spanish, and we had the idea of including several boleros, although later only one remained. But she also sings jazz very well, for which we have set some standards”, says Terraza. And that has meant that English, Spanish, Portuguese and French sound through the songs in On the edge of the world.
For Terraza, Niebla has a great voice and technique, great taste and tempo when singing jazz. I imagined that as a singer in Spanish I could also open a good melon, and now I can say that I am happy with the mixture of the two fields, that is to say, being able to wink at the bolero, which I have always liked even though I had never recorded one before." .
Pepa Niebla (Antequera, 1979) treasures a musical career that is based on blues in its beginnings, she went to Havana at the age of 22 and later established herself in jazz when she went to live in London and later in Brussels, where she is now resides. In fact, she left Spain in 2006. “As a singer I had to make myself at first, then I studied music, I quit and finding myself and trusting myself, I threw myself fully into music, going back to studying it. at the Brussels Conservatory. Although I have come across many stones on the way”.
And among her references, from classics like Ella Fitzgerald to Dianne Reeves or Viktorija Pilatovic, an outstanding Lithuanian vocalist living in Valencia.
Although his gaze is very wide, he shares the fact that he is considered a jazz singer, and has a varied stylistic background. And in this sense, Terraza did sound familiar to him as a musician “because he has been with the Andrea Motis quintet for many years”. And having made this album with Ignasi Terraza has been like an unexpected dream come true for her.
In addition, “as a pianist I really like the baroque counterpoint in his way of playing, and the sound nuances he brings out with the piano. And above all, how he knows how to implement his classical training with jazz ”. And he concludes almost logically: "his speech about him motivates me a lot." And despite her innate prudence in the face of the professional fluctuations she has experienced, she does not hesitate to assure hopefully that "this is only the beginning".
