There are many reasons to visit the Basque Country in summer. When the rest of Spain is roasting in the heat, in the Basque Country you can breathe in the fresh air of the leafy woodlands. It is true that this is not the only place in Spain where you can enjoy certain climatic advantages, but without doubt it is indeed the place where anyone who wants to listen to the best Jazz on the mainland should go. In Vitoria, San Sebastián and Getxo, three of the festivals with the most solo acts and the best programmes of events in the whole of Spain are celebrated.

Out of these three, the Jazz Festival in Vitoria, which starts next week, is one of the favourites of music critics and jazz-lovers everywhere. In fact, Vitoria has an extraordinarily faithful following – jazz fans who come to the capital of the province of Álava in July return again year after year. Gerard, for example, is a French guitar-seller who has been coming to Vitoria for more than 20 years, never missing a single festival, enjoying the jazz acts each and every evening in the picturesque Teatro Principal in the city followed by hot nights of jazz in the Mendizorrotza ‘temple’. Don’t go thinking this is a huge church – it is an enormous stadium where huge performances of the Vitoria Jazz Festival are celebrated. An enormous stadium that fans have seen transform into a real cathedral of soul at the hands of Solomon Burke, and into one of the coolest dance halls of 1950s’ New York at the hands of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Yet, what is it about Vitoria that creates such an addiction in everyone from the most demanding music fanatics to the ones who know nothing about jazz and are just starting out in cultural tourism? The success of this festival is immense: the whole city throws itself into an event that, far from being designed with tourism in mind, was created, managed and designed for the enjoyment of the people of Vitoria. Here, the entire city vibrates with jazz in a unique manner and this community spirit impregnates the festival, making it hugely welcoming and interesting.

The key to its success is that, in this Basque city, the excellent programme of jazz acts is surrounded by thousands of little pleasures that are almost worth going there for as much as the  music: the marvellous tapas that you can eat in the bars surrounding the Teatro Principal, where the jazz evenings are held, are unforgettable. The strolls through the La Florida park, from the city centre as far as the Mendizorrotza stadium, after having listened to a concert and just before embarking on the night-time celebrations are amazingly relaxing and uplifting. You can reach any of these places on foot since Vitoria is of very ‘human’ dimensions. Once inside the stadium, the nibbles you eat between concerts, accompanied by an ice-cold beer (given that Vitoria jazz nights always have two huge concerts with an interval in between) remind you that life is beautiful and there to be enjoyed.

And it doesn’t stop there. After the magnificent Medizorrotza concerts, the music carries on into the night at the Hotel Canciller Ayala. Two music halls re-enact the intimate Parisian cafés where one used to listen to the American music that the Devil brought to Europe, and the melodic notes continue to sound until well into the early hours. As this very hotel is home to the great jazz stars during the festival, it is not unusual to see famous faces, after a post-concert shower, passing by the music halls and treating fans to a proper jam session where all musicians join in together reaching a magical dawn climax.

The guru at the head of this perfect cultural marketing operation that has been ongoing for 31 years is Iñaki Añúa, the festival’s director. At Añúa’s hands, Vitoria has seen some unforgettable nights like the last concert of pianist Chick Corea, the last night of Paco de Lucía and Wynton Marsalis. Añúa is a curious personality – Vitoria’s most faithful followers can pick him out of a crowd anywhere, strolling down the street in his checked shirt; walking through the corridors of the Mendizorrotza, or standing behind the scenes. The technique that Añúa dominates is programme-design – he knows how to combine what the most demanding music purists look for, through to major media stars – this year the festival features Norah Jones, and in other years it has seen Compay Segundo, Diana Krall, Al Jarreau and Phil Collins. Once there, as Iñaki knows, fans are bitten by the bug and turn into faithful followers who visit Vitoria every July.

If you, too, are feeling a twinge of curiosity, you can venture into Vitoria next week or this time next year. In addition to jazz, you can visit the stunning Garaio nature reserve where you can take a dip in waters much cooler than those of the Mediterranean, or visit the curious playing card museum founded by Heraclio Fournier, a Vitoria man who was responsible for cards manufactured throughout Spain and part of Europe for more than a century as well as holding a treasured and highly interesting personal collection of them.

You should go home without visiting the ceramic museum in Ollerías, a small village just 15 minutes from Vitoria on the banks of the Urrunaga reservoir. Here, you can buy yourself a beautiful Blanka ceramic piece, the most traditional type. And if you feel like partaking in some exercise, head to Atxarmin, where a fantastic country guest house or casa rural at the foot of the reservoir rents out canoes so you can explore the area from the water. Accommodation in the casa rural is also fantastic. Also, to eat well and get to know the spirit of the Basque bourgeoisie in maximum comfort, head to the Restaurante del Club Náutico at the Ulibarri-Gamboa.

Bilbao is just a stone’s throw away – that is, less than 27 minutes by car – so on one of the seven days of the festival escaping to Bilbao is highly recommended, to visit the Guggenheim and the Chillida Leku Museum (in the San Sebastián direction). These two very different architectural works produce unforgettable sensations – the Guggenheim, like a hypermodern boat grounded on an island in the Bilbao river offers the best of contemporary architecture, whilst the sculptures of the Chillida, littered throughout the greenest, lushest, leafiest gardens you can imagine anywhere in Spain, create a sense of spirituality that is difficult to describe.

Everything about the Basque Country and Vitoria is there to make the week that follows unforgettable for any visitor. But be careful – the festival and its host city can cause addiction, and you might fall into its trap.

What can you listen to at this year’s Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival?
 
By Juan Carlos Narbona

Sunday, July 15: Starts with a relaxing Sunday listening to the music of New Orleans whilst lazing around on the grass, picnicking, dancing, singing, listening, or all at once, until midnight in the Campas de Armentia. A free concert open to all, it is especially recommended for the kids.

Monday, July 16: Kicks off with the new Koneixoa project – ‘the bridge between the Basques and the Americans’, or rather, the De Diego brothers accompanied by the New York-based Juilliard School of Music. A concert borne of the Jazz Seminar that is celebrated every year in Vitoria Conservatory and which, two years ago, featured tutors from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra which is directed by Wynton Marsalis.

Tuesday, July 17: Today, the spotlight falls on Cádiz-born jazz artist Chano Domínguez and his tribute to pianist Tete Montoliu. The San Francisco Jazz Collective follows – a group of ‘all stars’ who dedicate their repertoire to a different composer every year. This year also features Thelonius ‘Sphere’ Monk. A few days ago we had the chance to see him on stage at the Palau de la Música in Valencia, where the audience was able to enjoy his humour and his covers of Joe Lovano’s and the Cuban Miguel Zenón’s numbers. Highly impressive.

Wednesday, July 18: At the mid-point of the festival, you can enjoy a true musical gem – the works of pianist Bill Evans through guitarist Niño Josele. No fusion, but pure respect between composer and interpreter that, years ago, one rarely heard. If you take a step back from these commercial interests you would have to resurrect the likes of Andrés Segovia and his adaptations of Spanish guitar classics to find anything remotely like it. After Niño Josele follows Buika who fills the Mendizorrotza with her Afro-Mallorquín voice that speaks of freedom.

Thursday, July 19: A night of militant Afro-Americanism. McCoy Tyner, John Coltrane’s pianist during his heyday in the sixties comes as part of a trio with the first drummer from Weather Report, Eric Gravatt. After the break, the Terence Blanchard Trumpet Band plays music from the Spike Lee films – with Lee in person as master of ceremony! Scenes from his films will be projected as the orchestra plays, like silent cinema but changing the pianist for the orchestra.

Friday, July 20: The weekend starts with ‘free jazz’ by Ornette Coleman who – along with Wynton Marsalis – is the only musician to have received the prestigious Pullitzer Prize. Many would not hesitate to qualify his last work as one of the best recordings of the decade. Always creative and original, he performs with two contra-bass players (one with an arc and the other a pizzicato) and his son Denardo on the drums.

Returning to mainstream jazz, tonight features the fantastic British bass guitarist Dave Holland, a musician with ‘a taciturn appearance, of vigorous manner and serious gesture’ who has offered us much joy in the past with his five-piece band and his sounds that are as elegant as his image. Perhaps thinkSPAIN|today readers will remember his unforgettable concert in Jávea a couple of years ago.

Sunday, July 21: The festival ends on a high note with golden girl Norah Jones. Her music has rung out in airports and large department stores, and her records have sold some 20 million copies, revealing that the daughter of Ravi Shankar has found the knack of combining styles faithful to her Texan and southern roots with pure jazz. This is a mixture that is music even to the totally non-expert ear, with her easy piano sounds and a voice that makes you melt. After this concert, there remains just the closing festival on the terrace of the Montehermoso Cultural Centre, which is venue throughout the entire week for various samples of local jazz. A spectacular closure to a festival that combines perfectly the warmth of the people and an exquisite selection of music to delight even the most demanding of fanatics.

Practical information

Where to stay

Atxarmin
Tel. : 945 455 087 / 670 422 524
www.lagonesalaves.com
Beautiful, picturesque casa rural in a former stately home. Located in Elosu next to the lake on a peninsula surrounded by oak forests.
 
Guikuri
Tel.: 945 464 084
www.guikuri.com
A beautiful, picturesque rural stone house located in Murua, a village a few kilometres from Vitoria

Sagasti Zahar
Tel.: 945 31 71 58 /610 03 36 78
www.casarural-paisvasco.com
In Maturana, a tiny village just 1.5 km from Vitoria, this country house which has been reformed with exquisite taste is located.

Hotel Canciller Ayala
Tel. 945 130 000
www.nh-hotels.com
In the centre of Vitoria, this is the hotel where the musicians who play in the Jazz Festival stay and where nightly jam sessions are held.

Where to eat

Gure Ametsa
Near the Ulibarri-Gamboa reservoir in Leintz-Gatzaga, just over the border in the province of Guipúzcoa.
Tel. 943 714 952

Asador Matxete
In the heart of Mediaeval Vitoria. The house speciality includes grilled dishes.
Tel. 945 131 821

Xixilu
In the centre of Vitoria, serving quality traditional cuisine.
Tel. 945 230 068

El Portalón
Perhaps the most renowned of all restaurants in Vitoria specialising in traditional cuisine.
Tel. 945 282 584

Translation: Samantha Kett