Interview - Francisco Blanco "Latino"

Why did you choose such a big instrument like baritone sax?
When my older brother stopped playing the baritone I took it. Its intense and at the same time mellow sound got me hooked. Besides in the Conservatory they obliged me to study the alto, but I took the baritone since the first moment till I graduated as a teacher. Because I liked much more jazz and modern music I left classical training to search and meet people that had the same love as I did. I feel more “myself” when I’m playing the baritone. It fits me best.

Tell us what is your favorite project at the moment?
It’s a difficult answer but I think in the pedagogical field my favorite is the Valencia Workshop which I’m organizing since the last 12 years. As a musical project I can say Sedajazz Big Band, but now I’ve just finished recording my own CD and I’m really happy with it. It’s called “Around Jerry Mulligan” where I pay and homage to this great master of the baritone saxophone, recording many of his delightful melodies with different ensembles.

How did you get the nickname "Latino"?
People started to call me that way when I was playing with the first commercial dance band I was booked in the song that says: “Latino, I have the taste of a glass of wine, half a gentleman half a wonderer” and that’s why. I was very young when I discovered Latin music when I listened to a Perez Prado cassette. Now I really think this is my perfect nickname. I always loved Afro-Cuban music.

Can you tell the story about the ghost that followed you from Portugal in 2005?
I don’t believe in ghosts but after that experience??? Lots of things happened to me. In “Casa de Mateus” I noticed his presence but things got worse when I returned to Valência. I don’t want to remember what happened. My van started to move towards me without a driver, I broke a 3X2 meters of glass, my television started to burn without apparent reason, I had two accidents with my car. It’s good to know that Oscar (this is the name he’s known in Casa Mateus and as they recall he arrived from Scotland inside a bottle 200 years ago). He had returned home, but I had that terrible week, amazingly at the end I was starting to get used to him and also enjoying his presence.

How do you deal with your "fans"?
I really think this question was for another person, not me. Ok, ok…I’ll tell you the truth: I have a fan club with headquarters in Madrid. It has thousands of members, all trying to chase me to get pictures with me, my autographs in saxophone reeds, T-shirts or even in suspicious parts of their bodies. I had to get a double, he’s name is Molina and he’s a goal keeper… he he he!!!!

Can you explain to us what is Sedajazz? A company? An association? Both?
Sedajazz is a project that came to life slowly in a little Valencian village called Sedavi. I started to attract local marching band musicians to play jazz, blues, funky… later I managed to get a permanent workshop where I used to invite professional musicians to teach, we did a big band, different ensembles, Dixieland. As time was passing we raised and arrived to have different types of bands which gave us a lot of experience and at the same time we had the workshops (so far we did more than 20) all over the Valencian area but also in Spain and sometimes abroad. We also started to produce CDs, organizing festivals… This was a lot of work for a single person, it was necessary to deal with all these projects, get the money from the contractors, pay the musicians, organize all events…I had to found Sedajazz as a company. It’s a source of work for a lot of musicians for 12 years now. Its really hard working in the jazz field but taking into account that we survived all those years I have to say that I was very successful. Sedajazz is the place to meet a large community of musicians.

Can you explain to us what really happened in the Seminar of Palau?
I’m going to make exactly the same statement I did and it’s published in our website. It’s pretty clear.
Last year Valencian jazz musician Ximo Tébar had boycotted the Valencia Jazz Festival and Workshop saying that the Palau de la Musica owed him some Money and generally Valencian musicians are treated by official entities as &ldquobastards”. As a result of that “scandal” and thanks to the efforts of the partnership with the Colectivo de Músicos de Jazz de la Comunidad Valenciana we managed to get a stable program of 6 yearly concerts within the Festival apart from the important raising in the project’s budget. We agreed for a much bigger sum of money compared to last years. It was established that the application form for the new projects was through the Colectivo. There were 3 new projects that Colectivo presented to the Palau, one was ours and other was Ximo’s. (We have to make clear that we don’t care if we don’t organize the Workshop this year, because it’s perfectly right to consider all the 3 projects equally valid. One thing we cannot admit is the dirty trick’s game)
Ximo (as you probably know has his own management office was for many years unsuccessfully trying to sell his groups to the Palau for the Festival, he included the Workshop together with his pack of groups to sell to the Palau he used this trick to get a benefit when negotiating directly with the Palau officials. As a result Palau finally declared that they had accepted Ximo’s proposal because its was much cheaper than the others.
It’s almost obscene acting this way, using a special “cheaper package” “influence” over the jury without any respect for what the Colectivo had established as the rules applying for the 3 proposals. He showed an unacceptable lack of respect for all his fellow musicians. To achieve the status of a respectable and trustable person this is the worst way to go.

How did you start arranging and conducting for Big Bands?
I’m completely self-taught, as a conductor and an arranger. One needs to believe and want to get into it. There’s a way to learn because you work hard and you learn from your own mistakes. I really love the huge sound of the big jazz formations.

What is your favorite piece you composed?
I don’t have to many compositions but, as I said before, I’ve just finished recording my own CD and I included a composition of mine dedicated to my daughter. It’s called Ângela like her and I liked very much the way it sounds.

Any advice to all the kids wanting to start playing baritone?
First of all you need to be taller than the instrument, have good lungs, eat well and be in good physical conditions to be able to handle the instrument. It’s an instrument with the nicest and most involving sound. When you play in the low register you will understand what I mean. When we play the baritone saxophone near the sea we call it the maritime saxophone.

http://www.sedajazz.es/

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