Alejandra López is a Spanish double bass player and composer who, at only 19, is a new talent in improvised music. From a very young age, she was surrounded by a musical family. She completed professional studies in classical piano and double bass, and is currently studying for a higher degree in double bass at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid. At the age of 14 she became interested in improvised music, in which she could express herself better. Ever since Alejandra took to the stage, she has had numerous invitations to collaborate with established musicians from the jazz scene. She’s been influenced and inspired by Christian McBride, Esperanza Spalding, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and diverse styles such as neo-soul. Improvised music is the starting point for structuring ideas. With a fresh, sweet, powerful, brilliant sound and a wide range of ideas and resources, she communicates deeply with the audience. Interview co-published by eight European jazz publications by Bega Villalobos (*)

In&OutJazz How, when and why did you discover jazz?

Alejandra López I remember that when I was studying in the conservatory’s practice rooms, I was always improvising on the piece I was playing. I’d come up with new melodies and play around a lot with the music. One day, when I was ten, I asked my piano teacher, who also taught jazz at the conservatory, if he could teach me some jazz. He taught me how to improvise over the changes of the blues with the piano. This interest led me to take some jazz lessons with double-bass teachers like Toño Miguel, Reinier Elizarde and Javier Colina. Something that influenced my approach to jazz was being around musicians and friends who were passionate about this music. I started going to jam sessions and got to meet a lot of musicians from the jazz scene in Madrid. I listened to a lot of music and learned a lot.

IOJ: How do you structure ideas? What’s your idea of structure in terms of composition?

AL: I have a lot of ideas. Most of the sounds and music I usually listen to inspire me, whether it’s a piece from Chopin or the sound of the incoming subway; even car horns inspire me. I write and record these ideas and gradually give them shape. When I was seven years old, I started writing music with music-notation software. I wrote melodies and shaped them according to how they sounded to me. With each song now, I try to find a structure that allows the energy to flow. I start with a lot of raw parts, so sometimes I opt for rondos or rhapsodies, but to concentrate the material of each song I also look for more conventional structures – AABA structures, for example – and I usually add codas to introduce a new closing idea.

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IOJ: What are your influences and what have they brought to your playing and composing?

AL: My influences are very varied. I’m inspired by classical composers like Debussy, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and many others, for the melodies and sensitivity they transmit to me; double bass players like Ron Carter, Esperanza Spalding, Charles Mingus, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Ray Brown and Christian McBride, for their unique way of playing and interpretive techniques; guitarists such as Pat Metheny and Mike Stern, for their sonic world and fusion style; Stevie Wonder for his mastery of composition and production. Erykah Badu and Esperanza Spalding have influenced me a lot, they are inspirations to me. I try to incorporate a little bit of each of these artists, among many others.

IOJ: What would you say are your strengths when performing and composing?

AL: My strengths as a performer are energy, and commitment to the moment and the song that’s being played. When I go on stage I give it my all. In terms of composing, I would say that I’m searching for spontaneity.

IOJ: How do you think about improvised music and what does it bring to your music?

AL I really appreciate improvised music because you can see the individuality of each musician and it encourages listening between the band members, creating interaction and spontaneous dialogue while one person is soloing, plus a search for sound textures. The abilities of each musician join together and create a cooperative effort.

IOJ: What are your upcoming projects?

AL I’m currently preparing my first project at Café Berlin in Madrid, where I’ll be playing and singing my own songs and some of my favorite jazz standards. After that I’ll be performing with Abe Rábade’s quintet at international jazz festivals in the USA and Portugal. And soon I will be appearing on a number of albums by artists I greatly admire. All the while, I will continue my classical music studies in Madrid, combining them with jazz studies.

(*) English version by Julian Maynard-Smith

This article is published simultaneously in the following European magazines, as part of an operation to highlight young jazz and blues female musicians: Citizen Jazz (France), JazzMania (Belgium), Jazz’halo (Belgium), London Jazz News (UK), Jazz-Fun (Germany), Giornale della musica (Italia), In&Out Jazz (Spain) and Donos Kulturalny (Poland).

LINKS: This interview in the original Spanish
LJN’s IWD interviews since 2011