Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Inma arrived at 8:00 to do her every other week house cleaning and, since we were up and about, we decided to go across the street and have breakfast.  We had been meaning to go to the Café Oeste for the longest time and yesterday was that day.  It is a small family run café that is open for breakfast and lunch.  In addition to the usual breakfast toast and sweet rolls they offer a variety of tortillas.  I counted nine of them in the display case.  There was the traditional tortilla de patata, as well as the tortilla de patata y cebolla, but there were also tortillas with spinach, chorizo, cod, baked ham, Serrano ham, morcilla and sobresada.  We went traditional and had a croissant, juice and a cup of coffee.

When we finished our breakfast we went to the supermarket and picked up cleaning supplies and paper goods.  Our next stop was the Mercado Central where we bought a fresh caught dorade that Javi cleaned and fileted for us.  We also picked up some strawberries and cherries.  Strawberries are back in season here.  They are being shipped in from Huelva, which is in the south of Spain.  Our shopping done, we went back home and worked on various projects until lunchtime.

Lunch was the fresh-caught dorade along with a salad, fresh green beans and tzatziki.  All went well with an inexpensive albariño that we had bought the other day.  We took it easy for the rest of the afternoon in anticipation of a late night at Jimmy Glass.

When we arrived there was already a line outside the door waiting for the place to open at 9:00.  As usual Pepe was among those first in line and as usual he saved us two seats at a table that was less than six feet away from the drummer.  Admission to last night’s concert featuring the Pablo Martín Quintet was 14 Euros per person and at Jimmy Glass there is no requirement that you order drinks, although everyone does.  Pablo Martín was presenting his new CD/DVD entitled El Caminero.  The quintet features Pablo on bass along with a percussionist, a reed player, a pianist and a trombonist.  The pianist and the drummer who were sitting in tonight are not the usual members of the group, but they played as if they were.  The concert started at 9:45 and did not end until 12:45.  There was a twenty minute intermission which is when most of the patrons pick up the sandwiches they ordered when they walked into the place,

The musicians were amazing.  I am not an expert when it comes to the jazz scene in the US, but I am continually blown away by the quality and the creativity of Spanish jazz musicians.  I often wonder aloud whether the locus of jazz has shifted to Europe.  Either way, it was an incredible night of jazz and it is uplifting to be only feet away from the bandstand listening to musicians play without any amplification.  Valencia is fortunate to have Jimmy Glass as a venue for jazz musicians who come from all over to play there.  The good news is that it is always standing room only here and that is one of the reasons why this jazz club continues to be very successful.  Here is a link to the first song on the album. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpUDKFBMRwQ  Enjoy!