Jazz Preview: Yorkshire an unlikely flamenco inspiration

Jazz lovers have taken to guitarist Eduardo Niebla. All right, he is not a jazz performer as such, but his whirlwind flamenco style contains enough improvisation to justify the term. Flamenco jazz guitarist is the description he prefers.
By Reginald Brace
Published 17th Jun 2011, 12:09 BST

“I am an improviser, really, and flamenco leaves a lot of scope for improvising,” he says. “I make music for the moment.”

Eduardo’s next project is intriguing – a collection of pieces celebrating North Yorkshire’s landscape, culture and heritage entitled My Yorkshire Road, which will be premiered at Holy Trinity Church in Ripon on July 23, followed by a performance at the Ryedale Festival on July 24.

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The performers include Ripon City Brass Band, the Men of Staithes choir, the Rock Up and Sing choir, folk artists Bryony Griffith, Will Hampson and Lyn Geddes, with words by poet and writer Ian McMillan. Plus, of course, Niebla, whose fleet-fingered virtuosity will hold it all together.

Although he was born in Tangiers and spent his childhood in Spain, the widely travelled guitarist’s base for the past 10 years has been a cottage in Melmerby, where he lives with his Yorkshire-born wife Katherine and their two children James, 10 , and Rosie, nine.

“Yorkshire is a beautiful part of the world and a wonderful source of inspiration,” he says. The fruits of his labours will be well worth a watch.

Eduardo Niebla, Holy Trinity Church, Ripon, July 23, 7,30pm. Ryedale Festival, Joan of Arc Hall, Botton, near Whitby, July 24, 3pm. For more information call Katherine Alvarez, 01765 640338/ 07808 727470.

Related topics:YorkshireRipon