Jazz I Am brings a bounty of new talent to Barcelona, Spain

Held over two days in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, Jazz I Am is a symposium with a focus on both the Spanish and European scenes, complete with several important showcases of a range of artists. This fifth edition of the event, taking place at the storied Jamboree club, puts the Netherlands in the spotlight, making the point that its wealth of improvised music has been shaped by players from across several borders, as Amsterdam is a crucial hub for international talent.

No greater example comes than in the shape of the excellent duo of Turkish cellist-vocalist Sanem Kalfa and Danish guitarist Teis Semey. Delicately understated and emphatically expressive the pair makes music with touch-sensitive precision, using ghostly draughts of reverb and delay to good effect on material that is both sensual and unsettling. Semey is also a member of the band led by Israeli drummer Guy Salomon (also based in the Dutch capital), that makes a sizeable impact by way of its combination of bright-eyed circus ambience, high wire humour and well-crafted ensemble and solo statements.

The whole set is like a march backwards and forwards with beats instead of guns. And that comic power framed by tight musical discipline is also present in the Hispanophone ensemble Reptilian Mambo, which is led by the puckish Barcelona-based Venezuelan keyboardist and sound terrorist Andres ‘El Pricto’ Rojas, a man whose first words to the audience are cartoonish garbles that suggest an excessive helium intake as well as arrested adolescence. But the way the band takes a classic 1950s Afro-Cuban sound, right down to Perez Prado style yelps, and fuel-injects it with both thrash punk and opera is quite something, above all because the rhythmic anchor of timbales and cowbell is both solid and supple, grounding the music without weighing it down.

With no less passion but much more reverence is Antonio Lizana, a highly talented Spanish alto saxophonist-vocalist who has an imaginative take on the flamenco jazz tradition that proves a captivating way to close proceedings. Playing quite sumptuous melodies that glide through tempos Lizana matches wonderfully limpid singing with equally effective horn playing. His tone is light and airy, fluttering to create a vivid aural accompaniment to the dancer on stage, giving punters as much for eyes as ears.