Dani Nel·lo

When Nel·lo landed at the legendary jams of La Cova del Drac he had barely come of age, but he had already toured the stages of the whole country with Los Rebeldes, the successful rock’n’roll band of the eighties. But the few square metres of that basement where the first blues gatherings were held made him approach music in a new way. Far from the big stages and the mass audiences, he found himself in a new dimension in his playing of the saxophone, with a close audience, reacting emotionally to a music he delved into through projects of very different kinds, always with the blues as a base and the saxophone — an instrument of which he is one of the country’s greatest experts as regards technique, evolution and history — as the fundamental tool of his brilliant creativity. Over the last two decades he has become one of the leading references of African-American music in this country, with different bands running in parallel. A profound connoisseur and devotee of African-American roots music, he is also passionate about crime fiction and other cultural pursuits, which he has brought together with his music in various literary, theatrical and musical projects.