He orders a gin and tonic, "but make sure the gin is Giró" and, since there's going to be some background music, he opts for Bill Evans or his beloved Oscar Peterson. He arrived at the Bar at dusk because, despite his 91 years, pianist Pere Ferré has not abandoned his non-negotiable condition as a night owl.
"In my family there has always been music. I grew up seeing my grandfather's piano every day, he had been a great musician, and starting to play it was something natural. My father, a school teacher, paid for my first private lessons. Then I started studying, combining the Conservatory with higher education to become an industrial expert, which today would be a technical engineer. I continued like that until the day I had exams at both centers. Both very important. Both unmovable, despite my pleas." Faced with that dilemma, Pere chose not to continue at the Conservatory and complete the other regulated training.
--- But then, how did you end up playing in Jazz clubs and international tours?
"The truth is it was a series of coincidences. I never stopped playing and tried to perform here and there, even though at the time the Vertical Syndicate didn't allow you to play in venues if you weren't registered with them." Something he perhaps didn't do because he didn't have the relevant qualifications or, also, because he didn't want to go through life with a Falange card.
His first great musical experience was a nearly two-year tour with the Latin Quartet through European countries: Holland, Germany, Sweden… "We played boleros and chachachás and, since Tete Montoliu had parted ways with them, they offered me to be their pianist. That was a unique experience for a man like me, in my 25s."
But everything ends and faced with the alternative of staying in Sweden, playing professionally, or returning to Barcelona and taking charge of a lighting store opened by the family, he opted for the latter. "At the head of the store I started to earn a lot of money and, besides, I wasn't made for Nordic climates. So I stayed here, combining that job with playing in clubs like Jack's and, later, Jamboree."
And then came jazz
Between the late 50s and early 60s, with the arrival of the first waves of American modern jazz in the city at the hands of a group of musicians and music lovers backed by the sailors of the US Sixth Fleet, the pianist enthusiastically joined a cause he has never abandoned.
"Look, I was not, by any means, the best. Often, I played because Tete was on tour. That's why I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to play with so many people without even being a professional myself." Despite this feeling of having been "a necessary evil," Pere has lent his talent to the Jazz Brothers ---with the Hand brothers, famous for their connection to the famous "existentialist crime of 1962---, Salvador Font "Mantequilla", Pony Poindexter, Hal Singer, Bill Coleman, Don Byass, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Guy Lafitte or Kai Winding. Although it wasn't always easy, as was the case with his difficult performance with Joe Newman. "That man was impossible. He even said that, as a pianist, Hank Jones wasn't good enough for him! A disaster." And he smiles, full of stories within the history of the city's music.
Today, all that legacy lives on in his performances, every Monday, at the Jazzman, a heroic jazz stronghold in the Eixample, or playing at the Giardinetto restaurant on Wednesdays, as well as special occasions such as the recent tribute concert to Tete Montoliu held during La Mercè and where the musician received the biggest and most heartfelt ovation from the audience, or an incipient concert at the Jamboree surrounded by some young talents from the local scene, for mid-November. Golden opportunities to enjoy the talent of the city's last bopper, the last survivor of a generation of musicians who, thanks to their notes, sixty years ago brought that anachronistic and gray Barcelona to the moment it deserved.
--- But you've never composed music, have you?
"Me? What for? With so much incredible music by Oscar Peterson, Gershwin, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Count Basie… What can I contribute?" This explains the few recordings in which the artist has participated, as well as the fact that, under his name, he only has one album, Secret love, recorded in 2001 for the Fresh Sound label. Needless to say, all covers.
That unrepeatable Barcelona
Annoyed by the current municipal government, "and on top of that, by how Colau ended up being mayor, thanks to Valls' votes!", the parishioner confesses to living his condition as a citizen on the defensive, for health reasons. "I can no longer take the long walks I used to. I lack balance and, furthermore, all the problems and fears linked to covid are added to this."
--- But, is there anything you like about the city?
Faced with that question, the musician takes a deep breath and takes a moment and two sips of his drink, before speaking. "Well, I have a great memory from when I was thirty, in the early 60s. That was my best time. And I keep very good memories, for example, from when we emerged, at all hours, from the smoky entrails of the Jamboree, and we walked along Las Ramblas at dawn, taken over by the street sweepers who cleaned them of the dirt accumulated during the day. That is the image of an unrepeatable Barcelona that, mind you, should not be idealized, because it was shabby and gray, but it had its moments."
Recalling all that, Pere Ferré's face acquires a serene and smiling expression, and he continues to savor his glass of Giró with tonic, while Bill Evans' fingers glide over the piano keys in his sublime recreation of All the things you are, giving rise to a brief moment of total elevation.