The Controversal Identity of Flamenco Jazz : a New Historical and Analytical Approach

There are certain recordings by important artists such as Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Pedro Iturralde, Chick Corea, and Paco de Lucía, among others, that have been associated with the label flamenco jazz. This label is entering jazz discourse, and it needs to be better understood in order to clarify its history, its identity, and its impact on recent developments in flamenco that are labeled nuevo flamenco. There is a lack of agreement in the existing literature on flamenco jazz on the evaluation of these recordings and these artists’ achievements and contributions to this field. These writings encompass authors from different backgrounds: journalists, critics, and musicologists, who have approached their analysis of the recordings from different perspectives. The differences in professional backgrounds, approaches, and purpose of the writings of these authors has resulted in controversy about this label. Therefore, the flamenco jazz scholarly conversation needs more objective writings from an analytical point of view. This historiographical study presents a more comprehensive evaluation of flamenco jazz by discussing selected recordings using analytical tools from jazz studies. These analytical arguments clarify the aesthetics of flamenco jazz and the artistic processes that these artists went through when combining musical elements from flamenco and jazz, which in some cases are described as creative misreading. In this century of cultural globalization, where jazz has become a diverse expression of world music because of its capacity to absorb traits from other musical practices, this study can be a resource for international jazz musicians who are seeking to combine jazz with their musical cultural heritage.