UnderPool is a do it yourself, a manual do-it-yourself. The verticality and leadership, in charge of saxophonist Sergi Felipe (1979) and drummer Pep Mula (1975), both from Barcelona. They are musicians and managers with calm manners, but with character. Otherwise, the label's ten-year trajectory would not exist. They are also persevering. A quality that adorns many jazzmen and musicians from other disciplines, in the face of adversity.
Last Saturday night was not only a success in terms of attendance, where a space located on a second floor looked like a traditional cellar, it was also a date that will in some way mark a before and after for the Barcelona music scene and, also, the Catalan one. Apart from the high level proposed by the musicians who joined the celebration, it was clear that no one on stage mentioned the word jazz. The daring ones who addressed the microphone spoke of music, nothing more. This detail is not cosmetic, it is symptomatic. Another aspect to take into account is that the five scheduled concerts had in common the almost absolute absence of electronics; analog sounds set the rhythm and temperature of the night. Jordi Matas's guitar, with his usual ease and skill, was the electricity quota.
The order of appearance was as follows: in a duo format, Lidia Facerías (piano) and Edu Pons (sax, flute and clarinet) performed an introspective jazz taken from their album Mapas de Días y Pájaros; Pep Mula's quintet solidly showed the warm classicism of Elixir/Mula Vol. 3, and Lluís Vidal (piano) and David Xirgu (drums) shone with their tribute album Carla Bley Songbook, dedicated to the recently deceased American composer and pianist, an unorthodox figure of the most libertarian jazz. The Madrid singer Carmen Lancho, close to the techniques of scat and vocalese, and her trio were correct with No!. And the event closed with pianist Toni Saigi and the Tronik quartet, who presented Wara, the most classic jazz, in evolution. In one way or another, they all traveled through the essences of the genre to formalize a critical look at music almost always in motion, without breaking schemes; that is, the usual disruptive views of jazz were not invited. On this occasion, the audience accepted it.
Barcelona enjoys good schools for studying music and, at the same time, few spaces to showcase this knowledge, something that causes great difficulty when it comes to playing in publicUnderPool is the radar of underground jazz that mobilizes an educated and highly prepared audience and musicians to offer the best jazz made in the country to the world, as demonstrated by the platform Bandcamp, where UnderPool has a significant presence. Since 2013, the record label, which has a recording studio in Esplugues de Llobregat, demonstrates that not everything happens in Barcelona. The connections of Sergi Felipe and Pep Mula certify it. "The relationship with the Estival de Igualada has been very fruitful. With them, we have edited nine editions of the Carta Blanca. The Carta Blanca consists of giving a musician the opportunity to record their first album as a leader. Dani Comas, Santi de la Rubia, Ester Quevedo, Clara Lai are some examples. This last edition was for the double bassist Carla González Ferrer", explain those responsible. They also have an agreement with the C-65 Jazz Cycle, in Llagostera and Cassà de la Selva (Girona).
Since 2013, the cheerful and happy cactus label has published almost eighty references in ten years. The organizers highlight titles such as: Varios, UnderPool Ú (2013); UNDP Collective, UnderPool 3 (2014); Varios, UnderPool 5 (2017); Jaume Llombart, SOLO Jaume Llombart (2015); Bill MchHenry, Solo (2018); Clara Lai, Creciente (2021), and UnderPool Collective, On tape / Wedding Songs (2023). So far, nearly two hundred musicians have participated in the catalog.
The references indicate without much margin of error that Felipe and Mula's proposal works in a city that enjoys good schools for studying music and, at the same time, few spaces to showcase their knowledge, something that causes great difficulty when it comes to playing in public. Where are the respective authorities to listen, learn, and help in the dissemination tasks of so much diverse talent, acquired in different university degrees, whose curricula are considered professionalizing? In this regard, the managers' experience is clear: "Except for a collaboration with the Institut Ramon Llull, the truth is that we have not received any public aid. Our infrastructure is very simple; in no case is it large enough to access aid with all the management it entails."
As the reader will have observed, these lines have not been the conventional review of a musical night. It is the chronicle of a well-deserved celebration. These paragraphs aim to be a worrying confirmation of a sector that fights tooth and nail ---and sometimes, also, with claws--- to make its presence felt in the unstable musical ecosystem of the country. A project like UnderPool is a clear example of a job well done. Its catalog is built with love and precision; it is much more than simply extracting emotions with a chisel and hammer from the core of the music industry. The cactus label wants to be happy while delighting its audience, which is small, solid, and constant.