Luis Gallo, Madrid’s Exciting Flamenco and Jazz Guitarist

JGT contributor Joe Barth talks to Luis Gallo – a Spanish guitarist who can be seen in both jazz and flamenco circles.  

Luis Gallo is a master in both styles.  He has performed with such diverse artists as violinist Ara Malikian, gypsy jazz guitarist Raimundo Amador to the London Royal Opera Orchestra.

JB:  I imagined you started with flamenco guitar, how old were you when you started to play jazz guitar, and what was most helpful in flamenco playing in learning jazz?

 LG:  I did start with flamenco. I got my first guitar when I was seven and I remember my traditional flamenco teacher telling me “If you like Flamenco, play Flamenco, if you like Jazz, just play Jazz, but if you keep mixing the two you will be a beginner in everything and master of nothing!” At age fourteen I didn´t pay much attention to his words.  From a jazz standpoint, Mick Goodrick´s Advancing Guitarist book was a game changer for me. I have worked on those lessons since I was sixteen years old. It gave me the confidence to understand that there is only one harmony and you put it in context depending on the genre, either flamenco, jazz, or whatever. The guy in New York who sold it to me told me I would find all the answers in that book, and he was right!

JB:  In your conservatory education, what helped you the most as a jazz guitarist?

LG: My classes on inner ear training, also paying full attention to the intervals and recognizing them gives you the ability to hear them loud and clearly in your mind before you play them.

JB:  What are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums and why? 

LG:  This is really a difficult question…  Joe Pass & Ella Fitzgerald – Duets in Hannover 1975 is probably the Bible of jazz accompaniment. It’s difficult for me to find a more organic and pure example of music than this jazz album.

Question and Answer by Pat Metheny, because it brings colors to my head that I didn´t know were there. It’s a fantastic album, refreshing music to listen to, and one of those albums that has been in my car for years.

Friday night in San Francisco with John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, and Paco De Lucia. It´s not jazz, but definitely it had a big impact on all the Spanish guitar players. Still today, it is mind-blowing. I remember Paco telling me that by the time the album was made, he was obsessed with being the best guitarist in the world…and he truly was.

I also had a videotape of a guitar festival in Sevilla in 1992 that all the big names players came to.   I remember literally burning the VHS copy of the concert and playing this video over and over for hours.

JB:  Talk about working with film composer Hans Zimmer.

LG:  My experience recording for Hans Zimmer was a bit stressful. Nowadays I mainly record from my studio in Madrid, so imagine I get a call from Hans, then a package of 19 pieces arrive on a Friday night to be recorded and sent back to him by Monday morning. It´s wonderful to feel part of those huge projects full of talent but also is a big responsibility.

JB:  Tell us about your goals in making your new album with flutist Jorge Pardo.

 LG:  So far I´m releasing just singles. Jorge Pardo is one of my all times heroes and since I imagined the first lick of “Tritoneando,” his flute was in my mind.  We have known each other for many years. He recorded pure magic in this single. This is my personal project that I will do in many different formats, from a one-man piece to a quartet. The recording includes other top Spanish jazz and flamenco players such as Pablo Martin Caminero, Mikel Asensio, David Ruiz, Iván Mellén, Gabriel Peso and Ara Malikian. The goals are always the same, trying to bring beauty to the world and play as creatively as we can.

JB:  What musical projects have you done with Portland guitarist John Stowell?

LG:  We are working on future performance dates in Europe in November 2024 and later on the west coast of the U.S.  I hope we can post them very soon and record something in the near future. Since the very first moment we played together, we felt a connection in our playing. The first night he came to work with me in Madrid, we ended up in a Flamenco club playing jazz standards with the people clapping flamenco rhythm patterns, I think he really likes the flamenco energy.

JB:  Please tell us what you appreciate about the Godin guitar that you use.

 LG:  My Godin is a Multiac Grand Concert Deluxe. It has the same scale length as a flamenco guitar and the string tension has a fantastic feeling. This Grand Concert Deluxe is a semi-hollow guitar with 2 LR Baggs systems and you can get the knock on the wood, which is crucial for a flamenco or Spanish-influenced player. The tone doesn’t have the low frequencies that normally are a big deal in the amplification of Spanish acoustic guitar. I really love this guitar and the Godin family has been always fantastic to me.

 JB:  As a gigging musician, talk about the jazz scene in Madrid, Spain. 

LG:  Madrid has a unique mix of flamenco players but also Cuban, Latin musicians and traditional jazz players. It is like a melting pot. There are musicians from all over the world coming here, searching for that “musical fusion.” There are probably not enough clubs, but we do have a lot of festivals and musical events. We need music as human beings, and we musicians need to play and share. The problem is that the music industry has nothing to do with that and contributes to the cultural crisis that we are going through. Being a musician in a big city nowadays is like Don Quixote fighting mills…because you know, rents are always rising and the club’s budgets haven´t changed in years. But we love what we do and love always wins out, so we must keep pushing and keep playing.

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