Meet The Interbellum Trio, a band, a show and an album that dig into the roots of interwar jazz

• The Interbellum Trio, a new band tracing jazz back to its roots
• On 14 November they’ll present the show “Macht Swing!” at the Teatre de Sarrià
• The album of the same name comes out beforehand, on 6 November

“Macht Swing!” is the soundtrack to the show of the same name, starring The Interbellum Trio, a new musical project that dives into the origins of jazz while reminding us that authoritarianism and militarism are hiding among us, feeding on our collective amnesia. They can resurface at any moment, and we have to stay on our guard.

The show opens on 12 November 1918. The First World War ended 24 hours ago, and three soldiers who fought on opposite sides meet in a tavern in northern Italy. There they recognise each other as musicians and start to play. Together they discover a new music called jazz and throw themselves into it body and soul. Thanks to it, Fritz (German, banjolele and vocals), Servus (Austrian, violin and vocals) and Tommy (English, cello and vocals) travel as The Interbellum Trio to London, Berlin, New York and Barcelona, playing this new music and whatever else they pick up along the way. They witness some of the defining events of the interwar years first-hand and meet some of its leading figures, including Bertolt Brecht, Ernest Hemingway and Duke Ellington. And little by little they come to realise that the music that was healing the wounds of the First World War is so powerful that it anaesthetises the population, ending up paving the way for the Second…

“Macht Swing!” is a show that sets out to rescue magnificent, forgotten songs from the most fruitful era of the 20th century, the interwar years. The songs are mixed with jazz standards, but always staying as close as possible to the original versions and making them sound the way they did the first time around, taking them back to their roots. In the show, they drive the story, funny and moving, of three soldiers from different armies and their trials and tribulations between the wars.

Written from the perspective of the great-grandsons of those who might have been the real members of The Interbellum Trio, the show combines a masterclass in the history of 20th-century popular music, a human story with a high emotional charge and the very best in musical entertainment.

The Interbellum Trio are:

Salva Rey has spent more than thirty years working in the performing arts. As a musician he has played in projects including Dr. Love, Los Negativos, Bondage, Navet and The Pinker Tones, with whom he was twice nominated for a Latin Grammy. He is passionate about the ukulele: in 2018 he published the manual “Ukelelala: aprende a tocar el ukelele en familia”, followed in 2022 by “UKE, el meu primer llibre d’ukelele”. He has also recorded an album of baroque music on ukulele and has a solo show, El Rei de l’Ukelele. He is also co-creator of “Rolf & Flor”, a bilingual four-volume CD/book series (2012–2018). He has toured Europe and the US with Alex Borstein and co-stars in her Amazon Studios comedy special “Corsets and Clown Suits” (2023), which was nominated at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards. In recent years he has also been very busy as an actor, thanks to the success of that special, and in 2026 he has debuted in two series: Por Cien Millones (Spain) and The Au Pair (Germany).

Christoph Mallinger is an internationally renowned musician, composer and educator, trained in classical music and jazz at leading institutions in Austria. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in Music Education (IGP), awarded summa cum laude, and stands out as a jazz violinist, guitarist and versatile creator. He has worked with key figures on the international music scene such as Andrea Motis, Nils Landgren, Chano Domínguez, Antonio Sánchez and Perico Sambeat, among many others. His live career includes performances at some of the world’s leading festivals and venues, such as the Blue Note in Tokyo, New York, Shanghai and Beijing, the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Havana Jazz Festival. He has appeared on numerous recordings for prestigious labels including Verve Records and JazztoJazz. Alongside this, he has a busy teaching career at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu and at universities and international masterclasses. His stage experience, expressiveness and command of the jazz idiom bring exceptional artistic quality to “Macht Swing!”.

Jon Cottle is a cellist, improviser, multi-instrumentalist and teacher. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Leeds University, and is known for the range and versatility of his playing across classical, jazz, experimental and popular music. He has worked with the Heritage Orchestra (London), the Orquestra Nacional de Barcelona i Catalunya and the Banda de Barcelona, and has toured Europe, the US and Asia with Claire and the Reasons and Van Dyke Parks. His collaborations include Goldie, Massive Attack, Spiritualized, John Cale and The Wedding Present, among others. His work has been broadcast on the BBC, WNYC, RTVE, TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio, and has been showcased at festivals including Primavera Sound, WOMAD, The Big Chill, Meltdown and Moogfest. A committed teacher, he gives classical cello lessons using the Suzuki method, as well as improvisation classes, and is regularly invited to courses and workshops across Spain and the UK.