Joan Casares: All that music ended up leading to the inevitable

"It all started the day my father had a concert and they weren't going to leave my brother Lluc and me with a babysitter. So we went with my father and, when we arrived at the soundcheck, seeing Aldo Munari setting up his drum kit, I was hooked for life." Leaning against the bar with a morning earl grey tea, musician and composer Joan Casares smiles as he recalls the impact he felt when he first saw the drummer of La Vella Dixieland, a legendary group in which his father, Pau, has played the clarinet and tenor saxophone, uninterruptedly, since distant 1980.

"All those hours of listening to music at home, in the car, at concerts, eventually led to the inevitable. The Three Wise Men brought me a drum kit and I learned to play at home with my father, as a duo. Over time, he took me everywhere and without realizing it I was playing professionally. In fact, I like to make good use of my mornings, have a leisurely breakfast and, when my neighbors no longer want to kill me, I start practicing," he explains, before asking that no music play in the background, because he likes to concentrate "to listen attentively."

"After those first years playing at home and occasionally in groups with my father, it was something new for me to play without him. We formed Cincart Jazz Project, a group where my brother Lluc was, with Pol Omedes on trumpet, Fabià Santcovsky on guitar and Marc San on bass. At thirteen or fourteen, that was really my first music group," details the drummer, who recently released Segueix l'instint (The Changes), a new album leading Tro, a trio composed of him, bassist Xavi Castillo and baritone saxophonist Pere Miró. One more of his many projects, which include Smack Dab, Bop Collective or the Lluc Casares Septet, among others.

Following Art's roll

The regular recalls with precision "the day Art Blakey played in the car, because it changed me forever. It was a tape with Hank Mobley's album Soul station, with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Blakey on drums. That roll! I couldn't believe it."

Like so many jazz musicians, Joan has also lived in the United States, from which he especially highlights "the short tutelage offered to me by Rodney Green, which marked me a lot. Every time I sit at the drums I see his hands and hear his voice. To this day, I am still learning from his classes."

Another of what he recognizes as milestones in his career, "at least, in a more personal aspect", is having been part of saxophonist Jesse Davis's quartet in his last tours. "Something that makes me immensely happy, not only because I adore Jesse, but because accompanying itinerant international artists is a type of work I would like to dedicate myself to."

Meanwhile, Joan has just participated in the recording of The Bop Collective's next album, an octet led by saxophonist and composer Irene Reig, "who writes great music, but it's not the easiest in the world, no. And playing in an octet, you can imagine how much work it entails. I'm very excited about this album, as the last one we did was one of the ones that left me most satisfied. They say that musicians often tend to be harshly self-critical, but this one really left me with a good taste in my mouth."

---That's excellent news, The Bop Collective's debut is amazing! When will the album be released?

"I don't know yet. But I can tell you that, at the end of September, we're releasing a new album by Smack Dab, the band I lead with Oriol Vallès, and it will be titled Supertralla, which I think defines well what you'll hear. I also think it will be special because it will include some live tracks from the concert we did in May at the Milano. You might think I'm taking advantage of the current moment, but in recent years Guim, the venue's programmer, has treated us phenomenally, so having some live tracks recorded there makes me especially excited." Meanwhile, the city that has put a bakery franchise where Tequila de Escudellers used to be, or a Mango where the Canuda bookstore was, is close to losing such an important venue for the public and musicians of Barcelona.

The night Brandford Marsalis played in Barcelona

"Barcelona is the best city in the world, there is no place with a higher quality of life. I finished my master's degree in Amsterdam and in less than two days you had me back here. The only problem for me with Barcelona is that I am a musician. Let me explain: the city has an enviable community of musicians and fans, but it does not have the institutional support to back it up. Over-legislating is the evil of this city, where every day it is more difficult to have a beer after midnight or find a venue with live music," laments the regular, for whom instead of protecting the city's cultural heritage, "we are selling ourselves to tourists and their rentals."

And then he asks for something that should be normal, but which in today's Barcelona sounds like a Platonic utopia: "to have a stable concert, perhaps two nights a week where I can play music for a neighborhood audience. Far from the spotlights of the big festivals, of the big events that seek headlines. A normal concert, in a normal bar, for normal people."

The same normal people who one night, in the late 80s, were present in what is his favorite urban story. It was in Harlem on Comtessa de Sobradiel. "There was a trio playing and, towards the end of the first set, a guy with a sax approaches them and asks to go up and play. The musicians tell him they invite him for the next set. Our saxophonist waits patiently until one of the hosts approaches him and they agree to play Caravan. So, when they call him to go on stage, the guy leaves all the club attendees stunned. The band leader, incredulous, runs to the microphone to introduce him before he disappears. And what happened next seems wonderful to me, because that saxophonist was Brandford Marsalis! With the Internet, we have forever lost the possibility of something like this happening anywhere in the world, because nowadays everyone knows what Branford looks like and even what the fourth trumpet player of the Almendralejo big band looks like. That's why, that this story happened in my city, in a club where I have played and happened to a musician I admire so much, blows my wig off."

---What will blow your wig off is our gastronomic offer, in case you want to sink your teeth into some tapas, a sandwich, a combined dish or a menu. Everything is fabulous.

Joan Casares smiles. "A good menu goes down incredibly well. But not every day, as I'm more of a light eater," he warns, thus explaining the reason for his enviable thinness.