The holding of several jazz seminars in the town organised by the former Andalucía Brass Accademy as part of its programme for the training and improvement of musicians in the brass family, in which the Valencian trombonist Toni Belenguer and the Valencian trumpeter David Pastor were invited as guest speakers, gave way to the celebration.

In July 2015, a concert by the latter artist was organised by the City Council of Priego de Córdoba in an emblematic location of the city, the so-called Recreo de Castilla or Jardín de las Infantas, in which the great Valencian musician was accompanied by a local trio, “Drumbassiano”, where songs from Pastor’s extensive discography were performed to great public and critical acclaim. As a result of that first initiative, in 2016 the City Council proposes to carry out a jazz cycle with the exclusive participation of national musicians within the programme of the LXIX Edition of the International Festival of Music, Theatre and Dance that is held annually in the city.

Thus, between 4 and 6 August 2016, the first edition of the National Jazz Festival “Jazzándaluz” will be held with the participation of the following national musicians:

Day 04/08/2016: The pianist and composer from Malaga José Carra, who presented his latest album “Verso” accompanied by the musicians Bori Albero, Dani Domínguez and Eneko Alberdi.
Day 05/08/2016: The Valencian guitarist Ximo Tebar, who celebrated the 25th anniversary of his album “Son Mediterráneo”, participated in a concert accompanied by the Valencian trumpeter David Pastor, the Valencian trombonist Toni Belenguer and the local trio “Drumbassiano”.
06/08/2016: The Basque double bass player Pablo Martín Caminero presented his work OFNI with a quintet that included the musicians Ariel Bringuez, Toni Belenguer, Moisés P. Sánchez and Michael Olivera.

The initiative received wide coverage in the specialised media, especially the Canal Sur Radio programme “El Bulevar del Jazz”, which dedicated a whole weekend to “Jazzándaluz”. The festival is also widely followed on social networks, the main means of communication of the festival.

During the three days of the programme, there was a large influx of both local and foreign audiences, and the Recreo de Castilla was filled to capacity.