I agree about Jose Romero's playing. It's truly outstanding.

Alvarez

Hola Amigos
You know I would never have thought of piano for flamenco and I think that in a way I have kept away from developments that I have imagined would be nonsense.
Having heard José Romero I am now very sorry that I have been rather narrow minded. He really is magnificent. He really plays flamenco and now I am sad that it is too late to be able to enjoy his work live.
Saludos

Tomas

Tomas –

I haven't been able to find any in the U.S.A., but being in England maybe you could get lucky and find some of his old LPs. I listed four of them on an earlier post on this thread. The first two for sure, and maybe the third, sound like they might be all solos, just like the two Bob posted. In fact, probably those two came from one of those records. Anyway, if you find yourself near some store or place that looks like it might have old and/or out-of-print records, maybe take a quick look. Don't waste your time listening to any modern day flamenco pianists – as I said, they're playing the same jazz harmonies/far out falsetas unrelated to flamenco that the modern flamenco guitarist are playing, and it's just as depressing to listen to. But you might want to listen to one or two anyway, and see what you think, and then contrast that stuff to Jose Romero's playing.

Ramon

I enjoyed the Jose Romero selections. They did suggest to me that some of you who like the Romero will also enjoy, perhaps even more, some of the music of the idiosyncratic Armenian-American composer, the late Alan Hovhaness. His Piano Concerto No. 1, Lousadzak: The Coming of Light, shares some of the same atmosphere as flamenco piano, but more thoroughly worked out. It's available on CD: Musicmasters #7021-2-C, with Keith Jarrett as pianist. This CD also offers Hovhaness' suite Mysterious Mountain, and Lou Harrison's excellent Symphony No. 2. Jarrett's performance is good, but, if you can find it, the old MGM/Heliodor LP #HS-25040, with Maro Ajemian, piano, and Carlos Surinach conducting the MGM String Orchestra, is superb. Nobody ever played this piece better than Ajemian. This LP also offers Hovhaness' marvelous Violin Concerto #2, with Anahid Ajemian, violin, which also shares a somewhat "flamenco" flavor, and is as beautiful a piece as Lousadzak.

Carlos

At last - I have struck gold! A friend of mine in England has eight tracks of Jose Romero flamenco piano. He put them on a CD for me, and he is sending MP3 files as soon as he gets the time, so hopefully they will be posted in a day or two. The tracks in order are as follows –

01 Tarantas.mp3


02 Soleares.mp3


03 Zorongo.mp3


04 Alegrias in E.mp3


05 Malaguenas.mp3


06 Siguiriyas.mp3


07 Tientos.mp3


08 Zapateado.mp3


Just wait till you hear these. He plays with more feeling than the next twenty modern flamenco guitarists and pianists all put together. Fantastic, fabulous traditional flamenco.

Ramon

Prominent Critic wrote:At last - I have struck gold! A friend of mine in England has eight tracks of Jose Romero flamenco piano. He put them on a CD for me, and he is sending MP3 files as soon as he gets the time, so hopefully they will be posted in a day or two. The tracks in order are as follows –

1) Tarantas

2) Soleares

3) Zorongo

4 Alegrias in E

5) Malaguenas

6) Siguiriyas

7) Tientos

8) Zapateado

Just wait till you hear these. He plays with more feeling than the next twenty modern flamenco guitarists and pianists all put together. Fantastic, fabulous traditional flamenco.

Ramon

Hola Ramón
This is very good news.
I agree with you. I find that he plays flamenco with the feeling that I like.
With regards to your comments about the type of music of the modern players I guess that it is inevitable that as flamenco travels more distant from Andalucía in geographical location then also the music becomes more distant from Andalucía. Maybe also the passing of time is a factor.
People in these times maybe also some people in Andalucía want something different.
However as I have mentioned before we only have to look at some of the young singers to see how strong flamenco is in Spain.
I think that maybe flamenco is stronger than all of the passing human influences and fashions.

The eight new Jose Romero tracks are now online in my original post about the new tracks - thanks to Bob. Enjoy.

RAMON

Prominent Critic wrote:Just wait till you hear these. He plays with more feeling than the next twenty modern flamenco guitarists and pianists all put together. Fantastic, fabulous traditional flamenco.

Ramon

There is no doubt about that. Most attempts to express the passion of flamenco on musical instruments other than a guitar are dismal failures. Jose Romero's piano recordings are marvelous examples of what can be done by an accomplished player of a non-traditional instrument who understands and is able to express the true essence of flamenco.

-Bob

If you are interested in piano flamenco you may be interested in the book Flamenco al Piano 1 - Solea. Several pages can be read online without charge.

Alvarez