Alameda -

Alameda was a Spanish flamenco/jazz-rock band that released four albums between 1979 and 1983 on Epic.

Members: Pepe Roca (guitar, vocals), Rafael Marinelli (keyboards), Manolo Marinelli (keyboards), Manolo Rosa (bass), Luis Moreno (drums)

Background

Alameda formed in Seville in 1977 when singer and guitarist Pepe Roca and keyboardist Manuel Marinelli started a new group after their years in Tartesos.

Roca learned guitar on an instrument lent by a neighbor in Huelva and later studied cello at a Seville conservatory. He sang and played guitar and flute in Tartesos, which issued the 1975 Philips album Tiempo muerto. Roca also played for the stage production Jesucristo Superstar with Camilo Sesto. Manuel Marinelli played in Gong and Cerebrum prior to Tartesos.

Keyboardist Rafael Marinelli, brother of Manuel, joined with bassist Manolo Rosa and drummer Antonio Moreno “Tacita.” Rafael and Moreno had played in Nuevos Tiempos. Rosa came from the Seville group Flamenco, while Moreno also drummed in Tartesos.

Alameda played across Andalusia and took its name from the Seville neighborhood of Rosa and the Marinelli brothers. In the winter of 1978/79, Roca and Rosa served as Sonoland sessionists for the third Triana album, Sombra y luz. Alameda recorded a demo at the Aljarafe studio of producer Ricardo Pachón and took the tape to record companies. Producer Gonzalo García-Pelayo arranged a contract with CBS. As sessions loomed, Moreno cleared out for Luis Moreno Salguero, the onetime Los Payos drummer. The revised quintet entered Audiofilm in Madrid with García-Pelayo as producer for the first Epic album.

Discography:

Alameda (1979)
Misterioso Manantial (1980)
Aire cálido de Abril (1981)
Noche Andaluza (1983)

Sources

“Alameda: El resurgir del rock sureño,” 1979 interview with Roca. It identifies the musicians’ prior groups and Alameda’s Andalusian concert circuit. The article confuses the Marinelli given names in one passage, so I checked the Tartesos lineup separately. (Calaix)
La Fonoteca: Alameda and Tartesos. These establish the 1977 formation, Antonio Moreno’s replacement, and Manuel Marinelli’s membership in Tartesos. (Alameda; Tartesos)
Roca interview, Diario de Sevilla, and 2014 profile. Roca describes the borrowed guitar and his cello studies; the profile identifies the musicians’ Seville neighborhood. (Diario de Sevilla; 2014 profile)
Pepe Barros interview, Diario de Huelva. His account corroborates the Tartesos lineup and Roca’s participation in Jesucristo Superstar. (Diario de Huelva)
Alameda album account and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Both identify Pachón’s demo; the album account dates the label approach to early 1979. (Alameda album account; Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
Sombra y luz credits and session account. It lists Roca on guitar, Rosa on bass, and the Sonoland recording period. (Triana Discografía)