I met the bass player of the Memphis Trio, Manuel Pelayo Heredia, at a Christmas party in Alora. He was locked in conversation with jazz legend Gerry Salisbury (see feature All That Jazz). Gerry told me later that he had first seen Manuel playing at a local venue and had been very impressed.
“He’s got a real talent,” said Gerry with conviction. “I’m trying to get him to play with me, I’d love to teach him some jazz.”
In fact it wasn’t long after that that Manuel and the other members of the Memphis Trio, a group dedicated to rock and roll, went round to Gerry’s apartment in Alora, where he played some of his favourite jazz records for them in his rooftop music studio. “They stayed about three hours,” he told me. “They were sitting there with their mouths hanging open, they loved it!”
Gerry went on to tell me that the band had invited him to play a few numbers with them at their next gig in March at the very atmospheric La Reja Restaurant in Alora, although unfortunately that was not to be. Perhaps another time.
At his home in Alora, Manuel told me that the Memphis Trio had been playing together for about twenty years, mainly treading a local circuit around Cartama, Pizarra and Alora, although they had played the occasional venue on the Costa del Sol. Manuel explained that he was the baby of the band. “I used to watch them as a youngster,” he explained, “and then they invited me to join them.”
The band, which is made up of Manuel on bass and double bass, Alberto Vazquez Lopez, singer and electric guitar, and drummer Jose Antonio Ruiz Sanchez, who also does some of the singing, is strongly influenced by Little Richard, Elvis Presley, the Stray Cats and the Beatles. They perform a selection of cover versions of their favourite numbers and even though none of them speaks English, their songs are word perfect, even, in the case of Beatle songs, down to a rather good Liverpudlian accent.
Manuel’s interest in music started at a very young age.
“My background was flamenco,” he explained, “and I remember as a young child being held in my grandmother’s arms as she sang and I tapped the beat on her shoulders. I never learned to read music,” he added, “but I just seemed to have the rhythm inside me. Flamenco wasn’t for me though,” he said. “For me and the other members of the band the greatest music in the world is rock and roll.”
And at La Reja, on Saturday the 18th March, did they rock or what! Within minutes of going on stage, the Memphis Trio were in full swing, the obvious enjoyment and abundant energy having an infectious effect on the audience, who were soon jiving and rocking the roof off. As the band tore through a blistering and seemingly endless list of old favourites, such as Love, Love Me Do, Cocky Robin, Back in the USSR and Creedence Clearwater’s Rolling on the River, the performance turned into the hottest party in town, with more people piling in every moment.
Adding spice to the hot scene were guest singer Miguel el “POPI” who got the Spanish audience singing along merrily with him and the sensational English singer Paulinda who’s wildly energetic renditions were absolutely scintillating. Paulinda