Chano Domínguez and Ethan Margolis – The Blues Around Us (Unifying Sounds, 2025)
Unifying Sounds has launched its first release with The Blues Around Us, a new quartet album from multifaceted Spanish jazz pianist Chano Domínguez and guitarist Ethan Margolis, also known as “Emaginario.” The project brings together jazz, blues, and flamenco influences in a set of alluring original compositions recorded in New York.
The album features Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra members Carlos Henriquez on bass and Obed Calvaire on drums. Engineer James Farber tracked the ensemble live at Oktaven Studios in New York in April 2024, with mixing by Dave O’Donnell and mastering by Randy Merrill, both Grammy-winning engineers.
The Blues Around Us weaves jazz-blues writing with rhythmic ideas from Spain. Domínguez, from Cádiz, and Margolis, raised outside Cleveland, built the repertoire around their shared interest in genre-crossing music and in a tradition rooted in iconic artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, and Wes Montgomery. The pieces, written mostly by Margolis, often begin with passionate flamenco-leaning themes before moving into conventional swing and blues sections.
The collaboration dates back to a 2016 concert in Los Angeles. Planning for the album stretched over several years, including a week-long working session in Brooklyn to refine the range of blues approaches heard on the record.
Margolis says: “After more than a decade of living in Spain, I met Chano, and we quickly realized the potential of our musical connection. We have both dedicated so much of our lives to the modern exploration of jazz, blues, and flamenco music that it was only natural to record an album inspired by these investigations. We believe in the imperfect beauty of humanity and in musical genres that are driven by the spirit, not by finance. As a producer, I am particularly motivated by the emotional sonic palate of engineers like Fred Plaut and Rudy Van Gelder. With this album, we attempted to deliver a message reminiscent of the warmth and humanity transmitted in those recordings.“
Domínguez has spent 50 years as an eclectic professional pianist playing a wide range of styles, from jazz and flamenco to fusion and progressive rock. He remains in demand across Europe, with ongoing ties to Wynton Marsalis, Blue Note Records, and organizations such as SF Jazz. Margolis lives in Camarillo, California, travels regularly to Spain, and recently released a 2024 Ropeadope album with Larry Grenadier and Eric Harland.
Domínguez says: “Ethan brought a deep mix of Blues styles to my apartment in Brooklyn and we experimented with some 20 styles before deciding what pieces worked best for the album design. Some of the styles that he brought to the table were completely new to me, and I felt like energized, like a little kid discovering new music again.”