Secrets, just the right amount. "Well-made music, in tune, and that's it," says trumpeter Pep Gol (Barcelona, ​​1959), one of the founders of La Vella Dixieland. "And that it reaches the people," he adds to complete the motto of a group born in 1980 out of a love of classic jazz in a broad sense, first instrumental and then also vocal. Just as they understand it in New Orleans, where what counts is playing and not "this mania for intellectualizing the discourse we have in Europe." To celebrate the 45th anniversary of La Vella Dixieland, the Barcelona Jazz Festival dedicates an artist portrait to him that will unfold in four different concerts: three at the Jamboree on October 11 and 24 and November 7, and one at La Paloma on December 4. This is the first time the festival has portrait a collective, not a solo artist.

"We also dress up in jazz in the spring," says Tito Ramoneda, president of The Project, the promoter behind the Barcelona Jazz Festival. The bulk of the program is concentrated in the fall, but for a few years now, the festival has also organized a major spring party to coincide with International Jazz Day. This year, the party will be on Sunday, May 4th, on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona, ​​​​from 12 to 10 p.m. "We want to highlight the richness of jazz, which goes beyond music, because it's also a lifestyle," says Ramoneda. The concerts, with free admission, will take place on the stretch from Gran Via to Plaça Catalunya, highlighting local talent. The Sant Andreu Reunion Band will perform, with guitarist Josep Travé leading the project and Lucia Fumero leading her trio. Additionally, Andrea Motis will debut the project with Jurandir da Silva. Also present will be the duo formed by Michael League and Bill Laurance, from the group Snarky Puppy, and Cuban pianist Cucurucho Valdés, grandson of Bebo Valdés. "He practically never met his grandfather, but he plays like Bebo," explains festival director Joan Anton Cararach.