LA BLUES BAND DE GRANADA

La Blues Band de Granada is a legendary band that celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2016, playing the best blues against all odds. Antonio Valero and Pepe Castro are the engine room of the rhythm section on drums and bass, respectively; Estanis Peinado playing piano; José Luis Pizarro on electric guitar; Agustín Sánchez and Gregorio Buendía as the fiery wind section on sax and trumpet, perfectly oiled, and topping it off with her voice, Sandra Morales.

After some periods in which there were some comings and goings, members in and out that in some way hindered the evolution of the band, at this point there have been many years in which the same line-up has been established and ready to offer the best version of the Blues Band, because when they start rocking, few can overshadow them, as the result of many years of activity during the last three decades, and with an unrivalled repertoire. The Blues Band of Granada are largely responsible for the fact that the twelve-bar genre has remained alive, active and in force in Granada and throughout Andalusia for the last thirty years. The virtuosity of its members as instrumentalists and of the group itself as a perfectly oiled machine for distilling high quality blues, their knowledge of the different styles, their mastery of the patterns that define them, and all this, together with the successful selection of repertoire that the band has historically presented, make the Granada Blues Band an essential group in order to explain and understand the music made in the city of the Alhambra.

The Blues Band of Granada was formed in 1986, when the Franco-German singer Pecos Beck joined the trio formed by the guitarist Joaquín Sánchez, the bassist Pepe Chamorro and the drummer Antonio Valero to start play the first gigs. In 1994 the first crisis occurred and in one fell swoop Beck, Martín, Lenker, Chamorro and later Visedo left the band. This line-up recorded their third album, "La Vida No Es Fácil" (Big Bang, 1996), more stylistically open but perhaps less brilliant. This is how they tackled their next albums, the highly acclaimed "Cuatro" (Ambar, 2000), considered their best, and the following one, "Llamando a Tu Puerta" (Ambar, 2002). With both of them, the group broadened their stylistic palette and added elements of Soul to the R&B of their beginnings, and a forceful jazz-rock sound that links them to bands from the seventies such as Blood, Sweat & Tears, with the addition of a powerful brass section.

In 2006, the band celebrated 20 years on the scene with a concert in which the British guitarist Otis Grand performed as a special guest, with whom they developed a relationship (and a long series of concerts). The collaboration with the English guitarist led to the recording of an album in which Otis Grand produced the music and added his guitar. The album was released in 2009 (The Grand Sessions, Riff-Duradisc), and after the sessions and mixing in London, the album was well received in the European press, describing it as "a very good album", "containing excellent European-style blues", "including standards interpreted in a very refreshing way".

In 2015 the seventh album entitled "Eight",is released. In 2020 again there are changes with the withdrawal of Beck who was replaced by Sandra Morales on vocals, with whom they continued to perform concerts at major festivals in Spain, in 2023 and with this line-up the band returns to Cambayá Studios, where it all began 33 years earlier, for the recording of their eighth album "The Jumping Boogie" which has been released on the Karonte/Cambayá label.

The Blues Band of Granada is currently formed by Agustín Sánchez, José Luis Pizarro, Estanis Peinado, Pepe Castro, Antonio Valero, Gregorio Buendía and Sandra Morales; and with this line-up they are celebrating their eighth album "The Jumping Boogie".

THE Jumping BOOGIE

The Blues Band of Granada finally settled down in 2020 after the incorporation of Sandra Morales on vocals, with whom they recorded their eighth album entitled "The Jumping Boogie", a return to the beginnings with their own compositions and the characteristic eclectic and forceful sound of the band, which has always made them an essential group to explain and understand the music made in the city of the Alhambra.