Rita Payés Roma (born 1999) is a Spanish

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and bossa nova trombonist, singer and songwriter.

Early life

Payés was born in

Vilassar de Mar Vilassar de Mar () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Maresme in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast between Premià de Mar and Cabrera de Mar, to the north-east of Barcelona. The town is both a tourist centre and a dormitory ...

to a musical family. Her mother, Elisabeth Roma, is a classical guitarist, and her father and brother are trumpeters. She graduated in jazz trombone at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya.

Career

At the age of thirteen Payés joined the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, directed by Joan Chamorro where she began singing alongside Andrea Motis, Magalí Datzira, Alba Armengou and Eva Fernandez. At fifteen, she released her first album. In September 2017, Payés, joined by the ''Motis Chamorro Quintet'', played at the 17th

Tanjazz Tanjazz is an international jazz festival held annually in Tangier, Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlan ...

festival in

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. In 2019, Payés released ''Imagina'', in collaboration with her mother. The two went on tour to promote the album in Europe. In alliance with Italian pianist , Payés in 2019 recorded two albums in New York: ''My Ideal'' starring Scott Hamilton, and ''In New York''. On 16 April 2021, Payés released her album ''Como la piel'' in another cooperation with her mother, Roma, her partner, Pol Batlle, and with her brothers Eudald and Pere. The album made NPR Music's best Latin album in 2021. The track ''Nunca vas a comprender'', an original composition, was an NPR Music's staff pick who described her voice as "angelic". Two months later, she was given the 2021 Alícia prize for emerging talent, awarded by the Acadèmia Catalana de la Música. In June 2021, Payes and Roma presented their repertoire at JazzBaltica in

Timmendorfer Strand Timmendorfer Strand (Timmendorf Beach) is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Bay of Lübeck (Baltic Sea), approximately northwest of Lübeck, and southeast of Eutin. Notable Pe ...

, Germany, in a concert which impressed critic Angela Ballhorn through their simple and touching play. During that summer, they also had a concert at the "INNtöne Jazzfestival" in the

Innviertel The Innviertel (literally German language, German for "Inn Quarter"; officially called the ; ) is a traditional Austrian region southeast of the Inn (river), Inn river. It forms the western part of the States of Austria, state of Upper Austria a ...

, Austria, which was later aired by the Austrian radio station Ö1. In July 2022, Payés and her band played at Jazzclub

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

. The newspaper ''Volksfreund'', under the headline "Heartache can be so fine", called her voice "fantastic", between ingratiation, aggression and infinite sadness. In August, Payés met

WDR Big Band WDR Big Band is the jazz big band of German public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne, Germany. History Origins After World War II, the ''Kölner Rundfunk-Tanzorchester'' (''Cologne Radio Dance Orchestra'') was active from ...

for two concerts titled ''The Spanish Trombone'' in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. At

ColorsxStudios ColorsxStudios GmbH (formerly Colors Media UG), commonly known as Colors (stylized in all caps), is a German music performance platform that aims at introducing and showcasing emerging artist talent in the form of videos with minimalist aesthet ...

in Berlin, Germany, Payés and Batlle recorded their new single "Vida" within the scope of ''A Colors Show''. In November, 2022, Payés performed with her group in Studio Foce,

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

, Switzerland, and had a concert at the 22nd festival ''Rigas Ritmi'' in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, before which they played at the concert hall

Ancienne Belgique The (''AB'') is a concert hall for contemporary music in Brussels, Belgium. Located in the historic heart of Brussels, it is one of the leading concert venues in Belgium, hosting a wide variety of international and local acts. Some 300,000 pe ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. In his concert report, Didier Deroissart described their repertoire as a mix of jazz, bossa nova and

lounge music Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The ra ...

with some

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

. At the

36th Goya Awards The 36th Goya Awards ceremony, presented by the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España, Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AACCE), honoured the best in Spanish films of 2021 and took place at the Palau de les ...

ceremony in Valencia 2022, Payés performed ''Te venero'' with

C. Tangana Antón Álvarez Alfaro (born July 16, 1990), known professionally as C. Tangana, is a Spanish rapper. He began his musical career while in high school, rapping under the pseudonym Crema and releasing a seven-track EP titled ''Él Es Crema'' (2 ...

in a live TV broadcast by

Radiotelevisión Española The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

. About her performance Madrid's ''El Independiente'' wrote that her deep voice outshone "the famous presence of C. Tangana". Her third studio album, ''De camino al camino'', was released worldwide on 12 July 2024.

Personal life

In December 2021, Payés announced that she had given birth to a girl. Her husband and frequent collaborator is Spanish musician, Pol Batlle, with whom she shares two daughters. Their second child, another girl, was born in May 2024. She lives in Northern Spain, outside of Barcelona.

Discography

* ''Joan Chamorro presenta La Màgica de la Veu'' (Jazz to Jazz, 2014) * ''Joan Chamorro presenta Rita Payés'' (Jazz to Jazz, 2015) * ''Lua amarela'' (Jazz to Jazz, 2016) * ''Imagina'' (with Elisabeth Roma, 2019) * ''My Ideal'' (Venus, 2019) * ''In New York'' (Venus, 2019) * ''Como la piel'' (with Elisabeth Roma, 2021) * ''De camino al camino'' (2024)

Collaborations

* 2021 – ''La gent que estimo'' (with Oques Grasses)

References

External links

Official website

Payés in allmusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Payes, Rita 1999 births Living people 21st-century Spanish singers 21st-century Spanish women singers 21st-century trombonists Catalonia College of Music alumni Latin jazz trombonists Musicians from Barcelona Singer-songwriters from Catalonia Spanish jazz singers Spanish women singer-songwriters Spanish women jazz singers Spanish trombonists Women trombonists Spanish bossa nova singers Spanish jazz bandleaders Spanish keyboardists Spanish jazz guitarists Bossa nova keyboardists Spanish jazz keyboardists Women jazz guitarists Spanish women keyboardists