A Dose of Spanish Jazz on a Friday Night

My friend CM and I spent our Friday night listening to una cuarteto español at the Fernan Press Center in Cebu City. The small auditorium was packed with diplomats, expats, Cebu's who's who, students and those (like us) who just wanted to unwind and enjoy some beautiful music after a long workweek. Plus it was for free thanks to Arts Council of Cebu, the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines, Agencia Español de Cooperación Internacional and Amigas de España en Cebu.

The Colina Serrano Quartet is composed of Javier Colina on contrabass, Antonio Serrano on harmonica, Marc Miralta on drums and Mariano Diaz on piano.

They opened the set with Stevie Wonder's Overjoyed. It was then followed by an hour-long jazz interpretations of several Spanish and English songs. The combination of instruments was pleasing to the ear. I also loved how the musicians complemented each other (no room for upstaging one another) and that each of them had their own shining moment. They played with much gusto. There's no reason not to be moved by their music as they knew when to go soft and tender or go full blast at the right moment. If the venue had been in a relaxed space, I'm pretty sure a lot of the concertgoers would have stood up and swayed to the music.

Thank you Colina Serrano quartet for your beautiful music. Should I find myself in Madrid again, I would like to see another performance of the quartet.