Spanish jazz

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Spanish jazz" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Jazz in Spain began with an interest in Dixieland or New Orleans jazz.^{[citation needed]} In that time it evolved into other styles, often influenced by visiting Americans. In 1947 Don Byas introduced Tete Montoliu to bebop, and other efforts to combine jazz with flamenco occurred. Catalan and Galician music have influenced some regions.

Jazz in Spain suffered from many difficulties. These included cultural, political, and economic systems that were unsuitable for creativity. Francisco Franco's regime placed restraints on jazz. The return to democracy and the development of the economy allowed jazz to expand.^[1] In turn, some musicians took exile in Spain in the mid-20th century. Singer Donna Hightower took exile from the US in the late 1960s, and returned to the US in 1990.

Spain has many outdoor jazz festivals. The Donostia-San Sebastian Jazz Festival began in 1966. In the middle 1970s, the festival attracted Charles Mingus, Tete Montoliu, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Lionel Hampton, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Rollins, B.B. King, Woody Herman, Freddie Hubbard, Weather Report, Gato Barbieri, Art Blakey, Mercer Ellington, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Clark Terry, and Miles Davis. The festival held in Vitoria-Gasteiz, set up in 1977, also attracts musicians.