Sumrrá, the Spanish jazz trio of Xacobe Martinez Antelo (double bass), Manuel Gutiérrez (piano), and Lar Legido (drums/sound objects), redefines the piano-trio paradigm with avant-garde daring, celebrating 25 years in 2025 as Spain’s longest-running jazz ensemble.

With seven albums and a global presence, their live performances have captivated audiences at festivals like Vitoria-Gasteiz, Vancouver, Jarasum, Joy of Jazz (Johannesburg), and Guangzhou’s International Jazz Festival.

We emailed the trio before their Jazzfest performance. The festival unfolds from December 5 to 7 at Dalhousie Institute.

For JazzFest, what aspects of your identity — political commentary, lyricism, abstraction — are you choosing to foreground, and why?

We’ll show the whole package, as we do in every concert. We’ll show honesty, commitment and we won’t save anything for the day after. That’s the way we’ve been doing our journey till this day, for 25 years. Just connect with the audience through our music. There’s a simple beauty in that. That’s the magic of music.”

What’s something new you’ve discovered about each other musically this year?

The context and the rules in which we are involved with Sumrrá force us to be at our top at each and every gig. That’s very powerful, and gives us an endless source of ideas, energy and possibilities. To witness that in the three of us every day, it is incredible, really.

Which local influences from home shape your playing, even when you’re performing internationally?

It’s difficult for us to locate those influences, but through the years, we understood that there’s a certain scent in our music that gives us something kind of lyrical nostalgia, and grim epicness that maybe comes from our cultural background. Who knows?

Everyone’s talking about artificial intelligence. What does AI mean to you and does it have a place in your music?

We have seen a lot of things regarding technology that have messed with the music industry one way or another. For us, the music stays intact no matter what. We really don’t care and don’t have any prejudice either. For us, it’s still everything about piano, bass and drums. That’s infinite.