Catalan Review XXXIV (2020), 1–17 https://doi.org/10.3828/CATR.34.1 TETE MONTOLIU, BLINDNESS, AND BARCELONA IN THE KEY OF MODERN JAZZ BENJAMIN FRASER Abstract As a contribution toward enriching the scholarly interest in the full spectrum of Iberian jazz, this article explores the life, work, and international reception of Catalan pianist Tete Montoliu (1933–1997) within a cultural studies framework. First and foremost, it ofers a correction for a tradition of American jazz historiography that in the words of E. Taylor Atkins “has consistently failed to look overseas for jams of consequence” (xii). Moreover, to explore Tete’s accomplishments is to correct for certain tendencies within the existing scholarship on jazz in Spain. As Arribas García highlights, the fact that jazz research has paid more attention to the 1960s and 1980s than the 1970s — the latter being the decade of Spain’s Transition from a dictatorial regime to a constitutional monarchy — is a natural impediment to learning more about the jazz pianist, who recorded over twenty albums during that decade alone. His strong Catalan identity and his connection with the city of Barcelona also distinguish his music from what might be called “Spanish” jazz. Finally, this article also contributes to the need, consistent with the disability studies framework outlined by Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus in Sounding Of: Theorizing Disability in Music (2006), to acknowledge that disability is everywhere in music. INTRODUCTION Readers unfamiliar with Tete Montoliu (1933–1997) should understand that he enjoyed a well-deserved international reputation. This reputation has been characterized with ease by those who have written and spoken about him. Miguel Arribas García confrms his reputation within the Catalonian capital, stating that he was “La fgura principal del jazz moderno o bebop en Barcelona” (55). Within Spain, Tete is mentioned as a highlight of jazz under the Franco dictatorship by saxophonist José Luis Gutiérrez. 1 On the exportation of his fame outside of Spain, Xavier Moreno Peracaula writes that saxophonist Pedro Iturralde, who made his name with Flamenco Jazz, “and Catalan jazz pianist Tete Montoliu have been the Spanish jazz musicians with much projection outside the country” (Moreno Peracaula 85n117). And fnally, speaking of the scale of European jazz as a whole, promoter Julio Martí Moscardó says Tete “era el mejor pianista de jazz que ha habido en Europa jamás de jazz—jazz, de be-bop” (Moreno Sabogal 223). This article is content to outline a few aspects of Tete Montoliu’s legacy that deserve more careful and extended consideration. 2 It asserts that the pianist’s