Martí Mitjavila: Somebody Nobody Loves

Jack Bowers, our esteemed elder statesman, made it quite clear in his article James Danderfer: If Not Now that the clarinet, once one of jazz's signature instruments, is currently experiencing hard times. But it is not all bad news. Whether on the formerly more popular soprano clarinet or the more solemn—and experimentation-friendly—bass clarinet, luminaries like Hamiet Bluiett, John Carter, David Murray and Marty Ehrlich have carried forward its evolution. Its impact on the European scene is equally significant, where musicians like Michel Portal, John Surman and Joris Roelofs keep its woody embers glowing strong.

A student of the latter, Martí Mitjavila, stands out among young talents who, far from renouncing a splendorous past, choose to reformulate tradition through an unmistakably contemporary lens. The Barcelona-born artist integrates the teachings of pioneers with those of predecessor outsiders, generating a musical approach that exudes radical modernity, austere yet complex and meticulously crafted. His discourse and timbre frequently seek an essential purity, evoking both Jimmy Hamilton and Jimmy Giuffre, while on bass clarinet drawing freely on Eric Dolphy's vocabulary.

His second album, Playtime (The Changes, 2025), oscillates between his own originals—presented under the deceptive guise of updated standards—and outside material, including lesser-known works by figures like Thelonious Monk or Duke Ellington, a touchstone for Mitjavila. The idea is, in his words, "to create a sensation of musical play—beyond the technical and conceptual complexities that sustain it—capturing and transmitting to the listener the fun it generates." His reading of the forgotten "Somebody Nobody Loves," once covered by distinguished colleagues like Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, is admirable. The Catalan reforges it from the outset (that bluesy intro) to continue with a syncopated waltz, punctuated by breaks and stops-and-runs, urgently evolving into an up-tempo walking. His refreshing treatment and his incisive, spirited, imaginative bass clarinet discourse point to a leader who demands to be followed with the utmost attention.

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