Xavier Casellas

I was born in Calella, a town by the Mediterranean near Barcelona, Spain. My father was definetly not a musician, but he had this obsession with the great old crooners and big bands from the 40's. Frank Sinatra, conducted by Nelson Riddle, Tony Bennet, Ella Fitzgerald and Loui Armstrong, Nat Cole, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington... and so many others. All those great musicians and singers use to open wide my ears and my soul to a music that I always felt very close. I spent hours singing along to the vinyl records that he used to play all the time.

Many years later, and I bet my “singalongs” had a lot to do with it, I made a profession out of singing. I had the chance to play other styles of music in live venues and TV. Music like rock and roll, country music, dance, latin, pop, etc.

I was born in Calella, a town by the Mediterranean near Barcelona, Spain. My father was definetly not a musician, but he had this obsession with the great old crooners and big bands from the 40's. Frank Sinatra, conducted by Nelson Riddle, Tony Bennet, Ella Fitzgerald and Loui Armstrong, Nat Cole, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington... and so many others. All those great musicians and singers use to open wide my ears and my soul to a music that I always felt very close. I spent hours singing along to the vinyl records that he used to play all the time.

Many years later, and I bet my “singalongs” had a lot to do with it, I made a profession out of singing. I had the chance to play other styles of music in live venues and TV. Music like rock and roll, country music, dance, latin, pop, etc.

But oddly enough, jazz music was left forgotten where your deepest feelings rest surrounded by the most intimate memories, save and dormant.

Tired of not finding a way to express myself to full extent though, I took a degree in Audiovisual Comunication at the Pompeu Fabra University trying to pursue my other passion: fiction writing. It was great but somehow, not enough.

As time went by, and almost by accident, those childhood memories started coming back. The music that made me daydream as a kid became alive again and has become the main means for my musical expression and the most rewarding. Also, lyric writing was also there to fulfill my literary needs. One thing’s for sure, it felt good!

With a respectful gaze of almost veneration for those classics, I want to walk forward to return them what they gave me, willing to make my modest contribution to the music.

And the first results are all packed up in this new release by Fresh Sound Records label, Yesterday's Sun (Fresh Sound/2006). And there’s for sure many more to come!