Iñaki Salvador & Marco Mezquida - 60 Jazzaldia

Iñaki Salvador / Marco Mezquida: Dichosos tributos

Iñaki Salvador (piano), Marco Mezquida (piano)

“Dichosos tributos”, as this concert is dubbed, is a celebration of the connection between two exceptional pianists, San Sebastian native Iñaki Salvador, and Majorcan born and bred, Marco Mezquida. They get together for the first time in a musical dialogue to pay tribute to the great composers and pianists in the history of Jazz, reinterpreting emblematic works, landmarks within the evolution of the genre, from ragtime till today. 

Iñaki and Marco will construct, deconstruct and play over songs by Duke Ellington…as well as creations of their own, to offer a space for listening, a space of freedom. It will be a singular declaration of love to all the great Jazz composers, a compendium of tradition and modernity, a dialogue between composition and improvisation. 

Iñaki Salvador has been a leading light in recent decades of Basque music and is unquestionably one of the greatest international representatives of our Jazz. Pianist, composer, arranger and teacher, he studied the piano, harmony and composition under masters including pianists José Antonio Medina and Jesús González Alonso, as well as composer Francisco Escudero. He basically taught himself how to play modern music and Jazz.­­­­­­­­­

In his long and prolific career, he has released numerous albums, fronted his own groups, created projects that have made their mark, composed soundtracks for the cinema, television, theatre and dance, and also worked with myriad musicians, particularly including: Mikel Laboa, Perico Sambeat, Allan Skidmore, Pedro Iturralde, Jean Toussaint, Jorge Pardo, Javier Colina, Noa, Jesse Davis, David Xirgu, David Gómez, Mario Rossy, Jorge Rossy, Charles Tolliver, Raynald Colom, Mikel Andueza, Gonzalo Tejada, Joaquín Chacón, Alvin Queen…

His first participation in the San Sebastián Jazz Festival was at its 17th edition in 1982, when he won the award for best soloist in the Competition for Basque Groups. Since then, Iñaki Salvador, recipient of the Donostiako Jazzaldia Award in 2020, has become the musician to have racked up the highest number of performances at our Festival.

Though not yet 40, Marco Mezquida is one of the most acclaimed musicians today in all of Spain. An artist who always seemed destined to triumph on any stage anywhere in the world. Eclectic and “chameleonic”, a brilliant composer, pianist, improviser and director.

He has recorded 29 albums of his own, leading the project, and participated in the recording of 68, as part of diverse projects, with the best musicians. He has performed in major Jazz festivals all over the world: Tokyo Jazz, London, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong Arts Fest, San Sebastián Jazzaldia, North Sea in Rotterdam, Madrid, Sao Paolo, Stuttgart Jazz Open, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Vitoria, Copenhagen, Oslo World, Belgrade, Ghent...

Also in some of the most prestigious auditoriums on the planet: Olympia Hall in Paris, Castell de Peralada, Köln Philharmonie, Parco de la Musica di Roma, Elb Philarmonie in Hamburg, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Arts and Performance Hall in Beijing, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Blue Note in Tokio and New York, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Beethoven-Haus in Bönn, Shubertiada in Vilabertran, National Theatre in Sarajevo, the Opera House in Algeria, Bimhuis in Amsterdam, Moods in Zurich, Montmartre in Copenhagen, Pizza Express in London, RZ Club in Shanghai, SF Jazz in San Francisco, Unterfarht in Munich, Duc des Lombards in Paris, Teatre Grec, El Molino, Jamboree…

He has worked with Jazz legends like Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Michel Camilo, Dhafer Youssef, Bill McHenry, Elliot Zigmund, Billy Hart, Bill Dobbins, Perico Sambeat, Giulia Valle, Albert Cirera, Julián Sánchez, Pablo Selnik, Marcel.lí Bayer...

He has formed groups with artists such as Chicuelo, Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Sol Pico, Salvador Sobral, Celeste Alías, Andrea Motis, Michel Camilo, Moisés P. Sánchez, Lina_, Els amics de les arts, Eliseo Parra, Noa, Alfonso de Vilallonga, Carme Canela...

And his highly lauded piano solo concerts, in which he always shows his powerful gifts as a composer and his ability to improvise, are there for all to see. He has also composed and recorded the music for several productions.

In his stunning musical career thus far, he has already won some twenty major awards, among them the Premi Núvol, the City of Barcelona Award, 3 Alícia Awards of the Catalan Academy,  6 Enderrock Awards for best Jazz album of the year, the jury and audience award at the BMW Welt Jazz Award in Munich, Musician of the Year on four occasions, bestowed upon him by the Catalan Jazz and Modern Music Musicians Association (AMJM), Premi Altaveu...