Last night, as part of the events in the Bienal Tete Montoliu, the book “Tete: Casi autobiografía”, by Miquel Jurado, was presented in its Spanish edition.
Just a few months after Tete´s passing in 1997, Miquel Jurado published a book that he called “almost-an-autobiography”, with a biographical sketch of the life of Tete Montoliu, based mostly in their countless conversations through many years of friendship. It was written in Catalan and, though he made the translation into Spanish shortly after this Catalan edition, and due to diverse publishing troubles, the Spanish edition had been eternally delayed.
Now, seven years after, a revised and expanded Spanish edition has just been published. Jurado has not changed the text significantly, though, among other things, an interesting article written by Tete in defense of bebop back in the fifties and an interview with the pianist when he was just 17, have been included. The graphical facet of the book is the main improvement: it´s a better printed edition with new photos and covers of almost all of the first edition issues of the discs by the Spanish genius. The discography (it´s a issue-oriented discography, not a sessionography, and only includes commercially issued recordings) has been completed and corrected.
I´ve been sent a copy by the editors, but still haven´t received it. Thus, all my previous comments come from my talking with Miquel Jurado.