Diego Amador: Innovative flamenco jazz made in Spain by a flamenco artist by birth

Abstract

Recordings by artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Pedro Iturralde, Paco de Lucía, Chick Corea, Jorge Pardo, and Chano Domínguez, among others, have been discussed under the label flamenco jazz or jazz flamenco. Recent publications by Peter
Manuel, Juan Zagalaz, or Sergio Pamies, have provided new arguments, as a result of musical analyses, that have helped to explain some of the elements that this music borrows from both fl amenco and jazz. However, flamenco jazz created by artists who are strictly rooted in flamenco music from the generation after Paco de Lucía, such as Diego Amador, still remains to be studied. Analyses of the harmonic, rhythmic, formal, timbral, and orchestrational devices used by Diego Amador from the 1990s to today,
not only reveal the artist’s contributions to flamenco jazz, but also explain how elements borrowed from jazz help him to strengthen his approach to flamenco music and his unique vision of transferring fl amenco to the piano.