The pianist Joaquim Guri, better known as Lucky Guri, has died at the age of 73, as reported by Televisió de Catalunya. He was one of the Catalan pianists, especially jazz, best known for his appearances on numerous TV3 programs in the 90s.
Lucky Guri and his piano were also known for accompanying a large number of soloists, many of them in the historic La Cova del Drac in Barcelona, and also from the Nova Cançó such as Guillermina Motta, Maria del Mar Bonet or Núria Feliu.
Born in Calella, in the Maresme region, in 1950, he began to play the piano as a child. After classical training at the Conservatoire, he entered the world of jazz thanks to a record by a French musician who played Bach to the rhythm of this musical genre.
He built a reputation in the genre from 1971, when he began his performances at La Cova del Drac, where he also had the opportunity to play accompanying great figures of American jazz. His first group was the New Jazz Trio, which later, in 1975, would become Barcelona Traction, a formation with which he recorded two albums and participated in the famous Rock en Canet festival in 1975.
Lucky Guri participated in numerous television programs in the 1980s and 1990s, being especially remembered for his presence in Tres pics i chimed (1987), which Antoni Bassas presented, or Sense Títol (1995), with Andreu Buenafuente.
His career and his life had a hard setback in 2004, when he suffered a stroke, because of which he lost all ability to interpret. In an interview, she even admitted that he could not distinguish "neither the white nor the black keys" of the piano. However, he knew how to get over it and learned to play from scratch, resuming his concert schedule a few years later.
In the last stage of his life he obtained recognition from the Catalan music sector, receiving numerous awards and tributes to his career.
