Manuel Alvarez Trio

Manuel Alvarez double bass · Ignasi Terraza piano · Mark Taylor drums

Manuel Álvarez Trio — Standards, Jazz, and a Unique Voice

After a long career as a sideman, in What We Are Here For, Manuel Álvarez explores his most personal side through the standards that have shaped his training and his way of understanding jazz. The influence of figures such as Monty Alexander, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Christian McBride, Stanley Clarke, Paul Chambers, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen runs through the repertoire, arrangements, and approach of the trio, with a clear focus on tradition and groove.

The program is built around classics like You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To, Never Let Me Go, Moonlight in Vermont, My Foolish Heart, My One and Only Love, and What Am I Here For?, with a special nod to the centennials of Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown, celebrated in 2025 and 2026, incorporating compositions by these two jazz giants.

Born in Barcelona in 1967, Manuel Álvarez began his musical journey as a self-taught musician before completing his training at the Taller de Músics and graduating from ESMUC. Although he has explored styles such as flamenco, Latin music, folk, and dance music, jazz has always been the central axis of his career, with his double bass learning shaped by listening, experience, and occasional lessons with masters like Pierre Boussaguet and Javier Colina.

His career includes key stages in the Barcelona Jazz Orquestra and Ignasi Terraza’s trio, with international tours and recordings alongside artists such as Nicholas Payton, Phil Woods, Benny Golson, and Jesse Davis. In this project as a bandleader, Álvarez emphasizes the essential roots of the language he performs: “Jazz wouldn’t exist without the blues. First came the blues, then jazz, and then rock,” an idea that permeates his sound and his understanding of music.

Why shouldn’t you miss it?
Because What We Are Here For is a declaration of love for classic jazz through experience and honesty: standards played with respect and a trio that radiates shared enjoyment.