Torremolinos honours 'career and memory' of Dutch jazz pianist

Torremolinos has renamed one of its streets in honour of Pía Beck, the Dutch jazz pianist and singer who played an important role in the town’s cultural scene of the1960s. Pasaje Pía Beck, located in Avenida Isabel Manoja, was inaugurated on Thursday by the town’s mayor, Margarita del Cid, and Beck’s son, Gino Felleman, who thanked everyone who had helped “achieve this recognition for my two mums”.

Along with her partner, Marga Samsonowski, Beck opened the popular Blue Note jazz bar in Pasaje Begoña during the town’s hey days as the playground of the rich and famous. They were the first two women to own a business in the street, and their bar attracted renowned musicians and celebrities, and was also popular with the local LGBT community.

Promoted by the Pasaje Begoña association, the passageway’s steps have been painted to represent piano keys, which Del Cid said was “a tribute to her career and her memory”.

The president of the Pasaje Begoña association, Jorge Pérez, said, “Pia Beck was an excellent ambassador of our town, an essential reference that has symbolised a lifestyle in which she made freedom, coexistence and respect visible throughout her life.”