By Larry Blumenfeld for The Wall Street Journal
When Chano Dominguez was a boy in Cadiz, Spain, he played the flamenco music his father loved on guitar. At the Jazz Standard in Manhattan in December, he reached briefly into the guts of his piano, damping its strings to make his notes sound as though plucked. He was performing “Freddie Freeloader," a Miles Davis tune, but save for Mario Rossy's acoustic bass, the stage evoked the flamenco of his native city and of Barcelona, his current home: Drummer Israel “Pirana" Surez sat atop a cajon, a boxlike hand drum, and used his hands to strike cymbals. Seated stage right were Blas Cordoba, a singer, and Tomas Moreno Romero, known as “Tomasito," a palmero in the flamenco tradition, who clapped out rhythmic accents along with Mr. Cordoba. At one point, Mr. Romero rose. He struck birdlike poses, darted his eyes. He spun, shimmied, pounded out beats with his heels. He rotated his wrist and extended his fingers to punctuate a phrase, then stomped it to a brilliant conclusion.
Mr. Dominguez, now 49, switched to piano in his teens, first playing what he calls “symphonic rock" (inspired by bands such as King Crimson), then falling under jazz's spell. One experience that changed his musical course was his first listen to “Kind of Blue," Davis's epochal 1959 release that has gone on to become the best-selling jazz album of all time. Despite Mr. Domnguez's high profile in Europe, he has performed only twice before in a New York jazz club. His three-night stand at the Jazz Standard was billed as “The Flamenco Side of 'Kind of Blue,'" part of a trans-Atlantic exchange program with the Barcelona International Jazz Festival.
When Chano Dominguez was a boy in Cadiz, Spain, he played the flamenco music his father loved on guitar. At the Jazz Standard in Manhattan in December, he reached briefly into the guts of his piano, damping its strings to make his notes sound as though plucked. He was performing “Freddie Freeloader," a Miles Davis tune, but save for Mario Rossy's acoustic bass, the stage evoked the flamenco of his native city and of Barcelona, his current home: Drummer Israel “Pirana" Surez sat atop a cajon, a boxlike hand drum, and used his hands to strike cymbals. Seated stage right were Blas Cordoba, a singer, and Tomas Moreno Romero, known as “Tomasito," a palmero in the flamenco tradition, who clapped out rhythmic accents along with Mr. Cordoba. At one point, Mr. Romero rose. He struck birdlike poses, darted his eyes. He spun, shimmied, pounded out beats with his heels. He rotated his wrist and extended his fingers to punctuate a phrase, then stomped it to a brilliant conclusion.
Mr. Dominguez, now 49, switched to piano in his teens, first playing what he calls “symphonic rock" (inspired by bands such as King Crimson), then falling under jazz's spell. One experience that changed his musical course was his first listen to “Kind of Blue," Davis's epochal 1959 release that has gone on to become the best-selling jazz album of all time. Despite Mr. Domnguez's high profile in Europe, he has performed only twice before in a New York jazz club. His three-night stand at the Jazz Standard was billed as “The Flamenco Side of 'Kind of Blue,'" part of a trans-Atlantic exchange program with the Barcelona International Jazz Festival.
