Spain’s leading Dixieland band, the Potato Head Jazz Band from Granada in Andalusia, were building a fine reputation in the UK when Covid pretty much floored the entire music business. They were the Band of the Festival in the 2018 and 2019 Birmingham Solihull and Sandwell Jazz Festival, where their show-stopping, totally captivating performances won them a legion of followers. This was a band who clearly did not believe that entertainment was a dirty word and that, backed up by their exceptional musicianship, made them irresistible. They have played a few other dates in this country, all resounding successes, and had a UK release on their album, Stompin’ Around, on Big Bear Records.
In July 2023 the Potato Head Jazz Band will pick up from where they left off in 2019 with a 12-date UK tour that will of course include a performance in their adopted UK home of Birmingham.
The band has been together since 2003, when a group of young musicians formed a band in Granada to play the music of New Orleans – not a regular occurrence in Spain at that time. By 2009 the band, attracting audiences throughout Andalusia, was based around a nucleus of three musicians: trumpet man Alberto Martin, Martin Torres, a clarinet player who had been playing in Dixieland bands in his native Argentina before moving to Spain and guitarist/banjoist Antonio Fernandez. The three of them decided to dedicate their professional career in music to re-create the authentic music of New Orleans and to set up the first band in Spain to specialise in that style.
Although over the following years they became the benchmark band in that style and regulars on national Spanish television and festivals throughout Spain, they still didn’t feel that they had the right combination of musicians and set about finding the very best musicians to improve and make a more authentic Potato Head Jazz Band. Soon, joining Alberto, Martin and Antonio were three more musicians who matched their level of achievement.
The Italian trombonist, Giorgio Gallina, already known throughout Europe, relocated to Granada, virtuoso bassist Alejandro Tamayo, with a background in orchestras and jazz combos came on board and the new line-up was completed by the in-demand drummer Zeke Olmo.
With the refreshed line-up – four Spanish, an Argentinian and an Italian – the band really started going places, featuring at festivals in Germany, Switzerland, France and Denmark, as well as becoming a household name in Spain. Their performance on French television, with Potato Head integrated with New Orleans band, Tuba Skinny, was seen on television throughout Europe and has since clocked up a million views on YouTube.
So far the band has released four studio albums, their new 2022 release, Tight like That released on November 10th, getting excellent media reviews.
The band’s character is built on the music of early jazz stars, Clarence Williams, Bix Beiderbecke, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and, of course, the early Louis Armstrong bands.
Potato Head profess a special affinity with British audiences, rooted initially in the support they gained from British jazz fans living on the Costa del Sol and growing with their first ever appearance outside Spain at the Birmingham Festival. Then the audience reaction to their music convinced them that they had a real future internationally.
