"Music is a matter of patience, of adding day by day. A process in which you learn little by little and don't take giant steps." For trombonist and composer Alba Pujals, who admits she cannot live without always being close to an instrument that connects her to music, as if it were a direct line to converse with spirits and muses that should never be unattended, music is like a good sofrito. It requires patience, skill, and perseverance. "Mica en mica s'omple la pica, is an expression I like very much and that reflects my way of understanding what I do."
While she reasons about all this, Bob Cranshaw's bass and Mikey Roker's drums accompany Mary Lou Williams' piano and the notes of Syl-o-gism advance, guiding the listener through a game that transcends melody to build, through solos, moments of absolute artistic singularity. The same concept that accompanies her as a composer who, like a good artist, never stops questioning the direction taken, whether the coordinates are the right ones. "I never think it could be worse, but rather I tend to demand more of myself, to think that what I do could be better." A need to seek the best version of oneself, very typical of an artist who, last year, debuted with Apologia (The Changes), a first album that will soon have a successor.
"In a few days, the recording of the next album will begin, which I will make between Barcelona and New York. There I will officially present the new repertoire, in March of next year." For this adventure, she is accompanied by friends and colleagues such as Oriol Vallès, Giuseppe Campisi, and American pianist Esteban Castro.
The desire to start this new chapter already shines above the fears, and Alba exults while, after delighting in a menu ---"my favorite format, which reflects the simplicity and proximity of neighborhood bars and restaurants"---, she sips a prudent decaffeinated coffee: "Tomorrow I have a lot of work and I want to go to bed early… I am very organized, although I always think I can be more so!", she laughs.
Innate passions
Although her mother, Neus Roigé, was a pianist, the parishioner would not be able to link her passion for music exclusively to her mother figure. "I don't really know where it comes from. I started studying music at nine years old, but I would have liked to start much earlier." Perhaps, one of the triggers was the musical eclecticism that was breathed at home, "where you could hear a Chopin prelude, Supertramp, or rocksteady records."
With her mother and older siblings, she soon began to go to all kinds of concerts. "As a child, I saw Laurel Aitken, for example. I saw many concerts. And, really, the epiphanies I've had in my life have happened during concerts. Or while making music, and realizing some progress, some learning." A bit like when flavors are achieved by working the product well on the stove.
She has lived in Amsterdam and New York, where she frequented the prestigious Juilliard School: the center where talents like Miles Davis, Tito Puente, Nina Simone, or Wynton Marsalis studied. "Just overcoming the admission process was a great achievement for me," she says, proud to "continue making music with the same drive and enthusiasm as on the first day, without throwing in the towel."
I want to and I can't
Originally from Les Fonts, between Rubí and Terrassa, and currently based in Sant Feliu de Llogregat, the artist soon established a bond with Barcelona. "From nine to sixteen, I studied at the Escola Oriol Martorell in Nou Barris. As a teenager, I came to concerts or to look for records on Tallers street and, shortly after, we would come down with Oriol Vallès, who is also from Terrassa, almost every weekend to play at various jam sessions."
--- So Barcelona is where you have essentially made your cultural life.
"Don't you believe it! I've also enjoyed a lot of musical and cultural activity in Vallès," she replies, and sips some coffee in silence, after which she frowns and continues: "Besides, now Barcelona's model has sold out to the festival format. There are festivals for everything, an approach that works well for certain interests, but which is not good for the urban cultural fabric because it leads to a form of artistic consumption that kills the cultural ecosystem." Again, the slow burn, the chup-chup. "The artistic scene is built day by day, venue by venue, project by project; it makes no sense to replace all that plurality, cramming it into a format where a thousand things happen in a short time. That makes money, but it doesn't weave, and I believe institutional powers should change their model, think a little more long-term, beyond their legislatures, and for the benefit not only of themselves, but of the citizenry they are supposed to serve."
--- But it is no less true that here we have a lot of talent, a very good pool of artists.
Alba Pujals' gaze shines intensely. "That's it! And I get the feeling it's not valued. There are exceptional musicians and artists, but Barcelona is always looking outwards and belittling what it has. In this sense, I think it's a city of want and can't. And it really could!"
--- Speaking of wanting, would you like something else after coffee?
The artist smiles, Mary Lou Williams playing, the bar's clientele livening up as the afternoon progresses, she checks the time. "I have a gig with some friends who are playing later at Jamboree… but hey, I'll have a beer."
--- This one's on the house!