The wait has been longer than expected, but on September 18th Barcelona will bring back JazzSí for music under new ownership, led by the former managers of the Milano Jazz Club. The venue on Requesens Street where Rosalía made her first live appearances, and where Enrique Morente or Mayte Martín have been seen, will reopen three years after its closure – hampered by the economic setbacks of covid – continuing more than three decades of live music in a city sorely lacking these spaces.
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The new JazzSí arrives with a complete renovation by the architectural firm LVA, offering soundproofing of 100 db, the same required for a nightclub, and a top-level sound system in a space with a capacity of less than a hundred people. “The small space gives us the freedom to open up to experimental music,” says Liba Villavecchia, a veteran jazz musician and part of the trio that, along with Clara Conill and Guim Cifré, is behind the reopening.
“If you saw how it was last week…,” says Cifré in the still-under-construction venue while his daughter Simona runs around everywhere and Clara Conill, Guim’s partner and mother, struggles with the projector. Stairs and cables are still visible throughout the two-story room, which will feature a new kitchen and bar, as well as a terrace that will connect to the interior space thanks to new windows that can be fully opened to the street.
The reopening process has had the support of all involved parties, including the Taller de Músics and most public administrations, especially the city council, the district, and the Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals, which subsidized part of the renovation. Moreover, contrary to what usually happens in these cases, the neighbors are also in favor of the project. “The president of the building told us that with the venue open there will be more light and life on the street,” highlights Villavecchia.
Venues like London’s Cafe Oto, Krakow’s Alchemia, or the small live music rooms in Berlin are the references for the new JazzSí, which despite the jazz heritage of its founders will look beyond the genre, opening up to flamenco, rock, or electronic music. “We want to blur the lines,” says Clara Conill about the musical project, which answers the question of what a music venue is like today.
Without rush but without pause, the intention is to program music every day of the week, and on weekends add performances at midday, at vermouth time. The Taller de Músics will play an important role here, the space’s initiator in 1992, which will remain linked with Villavecchia as a board member. The Setmana del Jazz and the Raval Sessions are planned to be held at JazzSí, as well as the Taller’s jam sessions, which will take place on the third Wednesday of the month.
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“Music is important, but people also come for the venue,” recalls Villavecchia, proud of the space that will open its doors in a couple of weeks. And Cifré highlights that JazzSí will allow them to do things that had no place at Milano “because of the venue’s aesthetics and audience.” The neutral decoration of the new JazzSí points to this willingness to open up to genres, or as they say, to initially bet on “yes to everything.” Surrounded by the Taller’s classrooms, they hope the venue will regain its function as a meeting point for musicians and a place to gain live experience. “Musicians leave school very well prepared, but they lack ideas,” reflects Villavecchia from his experience at the Taller itself.
A different kind of experience is brought by Guim and Clara, who with JazzSí take over from Milano, which closed in September 2023 swallowed by the tourist frenzy. Making good on the saying that reality surpasses fiction, the idea to revive the venue on Requesens Street came to them the day after learning that Milano would close. “They told us the day before we traveled to Amsterdam for InJazz,” recalls Guim. Their presence at the annual professional showcase in the Dutch city then lost all meaning, but despite that they decided to go, and it was a good decision.
The link with Taller de Músics will be maintained through the Raval Seasons or the school’s jam sessions
It was there, at the Bimhuis, a modernized jazz temple where the Catalan delegation was attending a concert, that they shared the bad news with Rosa Galbany, head of hiring at Taller de Músics, who with her characteristic drive said: “And why don’t you take JazzSí?” Said and done, “the day after returning from Amsterdam we were meeting with Maria Valdés, president of the Taller de Músics foundation, who showed us the plans and licenses.”
That’s how, from a space that was closing to another that was crying out to be reopened, Clara and Guim, along with Liba, embarked on the arduous path to be able to say JazzSí again.
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