María Parra: «I’m in a sweet moment in my musical career since I decided to dedicate myself only to my music and play my own compositions»
Interview with María Parra on the website Hysterical Recordings, by Josechu Egido.
The town of El Espinar will enjoy the music of the travelling pianist and jazz musician in an intimate dialogue between the public and her instrument, the Piano Total, within the programme of the MUSEG AL NATURAL Festival on 2/08 at 8:30 pm
After an almost entire life dedicated to classical piano with two albums as a performer, «Rêverie» (2014) and «Mouvement» (2016), the pianist María Parra radically changes her musical proposal to create and record her own compositions. This is how «Vision» and «Gea» were born, her third and fourth albums, this time as an author (released in July 2020 and May 2022, respectively, by Warner Music Spain). In both she finds herself and sees how happiness comes from expressing her deep emotions through intimate music, while also expansive and open.
Today, María Parra’s compositions are brought to jazz thanks to the collaboration with two great musicians, the double bassist Miguel Rodrigáñez and the drummer Gonzalo Maestre, one of the most reputable rhythmic tandems on the Spanish scene, in jazz, pop and other genres. With the María Parra Trio, the pianist’s compositions, brought to this intimate and emblematic jazz format, acquire a different and new texture, becoming a compendium of influences and fusions where we could quickly glimpse shades of chamber music within the new neoclassical or crossover current, as well as the most modern jazz, the most traditional, pieces with pop touches and even songs that sing by themselves thanks to the lyricism of some pieces and the mastery of its members.
It may be jazz, yes, but not entirely; sounds of the present supported by the framework of the music of always. Personal and elegant music, where the three instrumentalists express themselves in their own way based on the harmonies and melodies created by María Parra.
If we agree that what the María Parra Trío does is jazz, then let it be jazz without labels, without preconceived ideas or exclusions, contemporary jazz of the 21st century, and something more. Global music that unites the best tradition with the most hopeful future.
«Intuition» is the title of the first album by this group (and María’s fifth). At the end of 2020, just after the release of «Vision», María Parra’s first album as a composer, the need arose to return to the universe of modern music and jazz, which she studied at the Taller de Músics in Barcelona, and unite it with the music that gravitated in her creative world. “The project arose as these things happen, like a flash inside me. I found telling myself that I wanted to take my music to the jazz trio format, the format that is ideal for me, since it combines the best of the freedom of jazz and the more classical format of chamber music. In it, the intimacy of the pianist and creator is perfectly completed by the triad that forms with the rhythmic base of the double bass and drums.” This is how, with this “intuition”, the María Parra Trio project was born, which is finally captured in a well-thought-out album, recorded after almost 3 years of treading the stages of prestigious festivals and clubs in the country.
Our colleague Josechu Egido has spoken with María Parra about her musical career, the album «Intuition» with the María Parra Trio, her concerts, her future plans and the Pandemic. This is the full interview for «La Consulta del Dr. Escarabajo» («Dr. Beetle’s Consultation»).
