When discussing the output of jazz recorded in Spain during the 1960s and 1970s, most conversations tend to simply list Tete Montoliu’s discography and Pedro Iturralde’s experiments in fusing jazz with flamenco. During these years, jazz didn’t enjoy widespread popularity in Spain: local record labels didn’t find the jazz market sufficiently attractive, and resources were largely directed towards the production of Spanish pop. Only this can explain the scarcity of releases during the period, especially when Spain is placed in comparison with countries like Italy or France, which were seemingly a lot more open to sounds originating from the other side of the Atlantic. This is even more pronounced if we bring the United Kingdom, Germany and certain Scandinavian nations into the equation. Along with Paris, these places became new homes for a great number of musicians who fled the United States in search of new opportunities. Nevertheless, a handful of albums and EPs exist that have remained unjustly ignored for decades, and which are in urgent need of rediscovery. They are recordings of high artistic value and historic significance, and their authors are deserving of greater recognition than they have thus far received. These musicians helped pave the way for jazz in Spain, and are responsible for some of its brightest musical moments. Fetén brings together a selection of recordings made in Spain between 1961 and 1974. The tracks selected were originally released on records that have become impossible to find, and which, in most cases, have never been reissued. These are unique recordings spanning modal jazz, hard bop and even avant-garde jazz by Spanish musicians such as Mantequilla, Juan Carlos Calderón, Ricard Roda and Vlady Bas, as well as by international jazzmen like Dusko Goykovich, Lou Bennett and Tino Contreras. The selection is completed by the inclusion of a previously unissued track. It’s a cover in a trio format of ‘Solar’, a Miles Davis composition, which has been rescued from the master tapes and sees the light now for the first time after being left out of the original edition of Nits de jazz al Jamboree, released in 1968 by the Edigsa label. “Years of searches in market stalls and record fairs, trades with other collectors, phone calls to second-hand dealers, countless hours of online research, and a lot of dust on my fingers have made it possible to bring together all the recordings presented here. My hope is that besides bringing self-proclaimed jazz fans closer to these historic recordings, this compilation also manages to inspire curiosity in other kinds of music lover. Most importantly, however, I hope that its music provides many hours of listening pleasure”. Javi Bayo