The Andrés Coll Odyssey defies stylistic boundaries, forging a path that draws equally from deep-rooted folk traditions and the exploratory freedom of modern jazz. It comprises a core of musicians united by a shared spirit of cultural research and musical adventure, channeling the essence of their respective heritages — Ibicencan, North African, Eastern European — into the language of free, bold improvisation. The result is a dynamic and liberating journey, joyfully delivered, that speaks to audiences across all ages and backgrounds.
Their music goes through the sonic layers of pristine Ibiza, unearthing echoes of Phoenician, Egyptian, Byzantine, and Hellenic melodies hidden within the folk repertoire of the island. Those echoes emerge from a broader tapestry that connects to Gnawa trance traditions from North Africa and to resonances from the Carpathians, suggesting a shared ancestry — a primordial, pre-verbal musical language.
Andrés Coll Odyssey is as much a call to freedom as it is a celebration of cultural interconnectedness, evoking with their music ecstatic states that transcend borders or identities. Their music is not about fusion for its own sake — it is about reclaiming a collective musical memory, and reimagining it into something immediate, vital, and profoundly human.
How we got together
The story of how we got together is linked to how we also formed the Cosmic Trio. As you may have read, my friendship with the piano legend Joachim Kühn started with an unexpected meeting at the Ibiza Jazz Point Festival, and from there an already 6 year old friendship started. We’ll, from this close friendship, not only I learnt a lot about music and life, but also I happened to be very close to Joachim’s circle of musician and colleagues. That links to the first time I ever listened to Gnawa Music, the trance folk music from North Africa that connects African and Amazigh traditions. I was at Joachim’s house, and like always, he will put some records to listen to, this time he showed me the gnawa music of Majid Bekkas, particularly, the tune ”Sandia”. I couldn’t believe it, I inmediately entered into musical extasy, I was laughing of joy from what I was hearing, there was something about the trance rhythm, the happy melody, that just clicked on me, and instantly I knew this music would take a part in my life. That was not the end, doing more research on this music at home, I inmediately realized: they are playing the same rhythm as we play in Ibiza. It felt like discovering a hidden treasure, like solving a mistery, or connecting two traditions that were once one and then separated for centuries.
For that, during my first concerts as a bandleader, I had to get a rhythm section to play with me and Mateusz Smoczynski; the local band I initially relied upon, cancelled on two weeks notice! Then it was very clear, I embraced the adverse situation and realized this would be an opportunity to bring two close friends of Joachim who I wanted to collaborate with for already some time: Majid Bekkas and Ramón López, who were part of Joachim’s trio for almost 20 years.
Due to covid restrictions still in 2022, Majid finally couldn’t come to the first concerts and that’s how we formed the Cosmic Trio, however, we got the quartet together just some months after at the Ibiza Jazz Festival, so there we recorded our concert movie and the project was formed.
From that moment on, we were lucky our first concert abroad was in June 2023, invited by pianist Leszek Możdżer on his festival, Enter Enea, which was fantastic and were our first album Sunbird was recorded.
As for today, we are always happy to hit the road with this project, it’s more than fun and the music is blasting, alive, and reminiscing the power of centuries of tradition into the now.
Andrés Coll Odyssey
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