EKE BBB

As regards previuosly unissued recordings released in the last 8 years (I'm going off memory, I could be forgetting some other disc; and some of this releases deserved a separate thread): (the original 'Tete Montoliu Presenta Elia Fleta' album, but adding previously unissued recordings of Tete Montoliu, Giovanni Tommaso and Gege Munari backing Elia Fleta when she was invited to play for the Italian radio station RAI in 1967)

Just to keep things together, a few updates on Tete Montoliu from the last few years, as far as books are concerned: - Benjamin Fraser: "Beyond Sketches of Spain: Tete Montoliu and the Construction of Iberian Jazz" (Oxford University Press, 2022) The blurb: "Beyond Sketches of Spain: Tete Montoliu and the Construction of Iberian Jazz explores the artist’s life, musical production, and international reception within a cultural studies framework. This book moves beyond mere sketches of Spanish nationhood to challenge conventional scholarly narratives and recover links between the United States, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and Europe in the investigation of an impressive and often overlooked transnational modern jazz legacy. Eschewing Theodore Adorno’s denigration of Black American jazz, a more compelling model is found in Fumi Okiji’s notion of gathering in difference. In this work, Benjamin Fraser deftly mixes musical biography with urban history, spatial theory, and disability studies, fashioning a highly readable text for readers from all disciplines." The reality (well, "my" reality, also confirmed bysome other Spanish scholars): this is an amalgam of different and "external" approaches to Tete Montoliu (flamenco-jazz (!), blindness, catalanism, jazz in Franco's Spain). No one in the Tete Montoliu "circles" that I am in touch with, was aware that this bio was in the works at that time, so no "inside" information. And, what is worse, not a single addition to the overall knowledge on Tete. This is just a pile of topics within Fraser's agenda, wherein Tete Montoliu is just an excuse to write a book. - Pere Pons Macías: "'Round About Tete. Una Mirada Coral A La Vida Y La Obra De Tete Montoliu" (Libros del Kultrum, 2023) - Excerpts from the publicity blurb: ‘Round About Tete offers a kaleidoscopic perspective through experiences, opinions, articles, statements, letters, and other unearthed documents concerning his life and work, contributed by many who had the opportunity to know him: musicians, managers, programmers, producers, journalists, writers, filmmakers, singers, friends, relatives, lovers, entrepreneurs… The book, prologued by Paquito D'Rivera, is accompanied by transcriptions of several compositions that were part of his repertoire: standards, popular songs, and compositions by other jazz musicians. My personal opinion: Not much primary research, not too many pieces of new information or musical analysis are provided; hence, I would not deem this as a groundbreaking ouvre. Most relevant added value is, from my perspective, that some of the texts bring some 'flavour' on Tete Montoliu, the human being, from different angles.

Excellent news, Mark! Congrats’

and