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Essentially Ellington 2025: Sant Andreu Jazz Band, Round I and II
Watch the Sant Andreu Jazz Band from Barcelona, ES perform at 2025’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Festival. To learn more about Jazz at Lincoln Center, visit us at http://www.jazz.org
Essentially Ellington 2025: Sant Andreu Jazz Band, Round II
Roots — how it started
The Sant Andreu Jazz Band (SAJB) was born in Barcelona’s Sant Andreu neighbourhood in 2006, the creation of bassist, educator and arranger Joan Chamorro. Chamorro set out to build an ensemble inside the local municipal music school (Escola Municipal de Música de Sant Andreu) where very young musicians — some just children — could learn jazz the way musicians always have: playing with older players, listening a lot, and performing regularly. The idea was simple but ambitious: give motivated kids real-stage, real-band experience and let musical maturity grow naturally from repeated playing and mentorship. (Joan Chamorro)
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The method and the “school”
From the beginning, Chamorro mixed formal teaching with hands-on apprenticeship. The SAJB became a living classroom: sectional rehearsals, repertoire drawn from standard jazz, swing and bossa nova, special guest masterclasses, and frequent concerts in venues around Barcelona. Chamorro encouraged singers as well as instrumentalists, pairing voice coaching with ensemble work; that approach helped turn the band into a pipeline of young jazz vocalists as well as instrumentalists. Over time the project operated like a de-facto school-within-the-school — a place where stage craft, improvisation, and repertoire were taught by doing. (Joan Chamorro)
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Early evolution and breakthrough
Within a few years the band was no longer just a local curiosity. By 2009 they recorded Jazzing: Live at Casa Fuster, a first live CD/DVD that captured the group’s energy and already noticeable individual talents. The period 2010–2011 is often described as the band’s consolidation: dozens of festival appearances and concerts at Barcelona landmarks (Jamboree, Palau de la Música Catalana, Hotel Casa Fuster), and collaborations with established jazz artists who would sit in or lead masterclasses — all of which gave the youngsters real-world exposure and accelerated their musical development. (Viquipèdia)
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Concert life, touring and discography
SAJB quickly became a festival favorite in Catalonia and beyond. The ensemble has played scores of concerts across Spain and in neighbouring European countries; they’ve been invited to jazz festivals, civic celebrations, and high-profile concerts in Barcelona’s most important venues. The band’s recordings and live videos (often led or presented by Chamorro) expanded their audience beyond the neighbourhood and onto international jazz circuits. In recent years Chamorro has also presented larger projects (e.g., big-band presentations and featured recordings) that include SAJB alumni and collaborators. (Palau de la Música Catalana)
Players, alumni and main artists
One of the SAJB’s most visible achievements is the number of young musicians who matured into professional artists. Perhaps the best-known alumnus is Andrea Motis — singer, trumpet and sax player — who emerged from the band as a teenager and later recorded and toured internationally. Other notable names that have come through or been associated with the project include Rita Payés, Magalí Datzira / Eva Fernández and many more: the ensemble has been a remarkable incubation system producing instrumentalists (saxes, trumpets, trombones, rhythm section) and singers who now appear on national and international stages. The band’s collaborative recordings (Joan Chamorro presents …) often spotlight a single young artist while keeping the SAJB as the backing and training ensemble. (The Syncopated Times)
Joan Chamorro — the leader, teacher and driving force
Joan Chamorro is the heart of the project: a bassist by training, an arranger and an indefatigable educator. Chamorro’s philosophy is patient, musical mentorship: give students repertoire, performance chances, and the freedom to improvise in public early and often. He programs standards and bossa nova, invites guest soloists and teachers, and records the students so they can hear themselves grow. Chamorro’s name appears on dozens of SAJB recordings and presentations; the project is widely associated with his pedagogical personality and his capacity to spot, nurture and showcase young talent. (Joan Chamorro)
Recognition, film and cultural impact
The project has drawn institutional recognition: awards for educational innovation, media attention, and a 2012 documentary A Film About Kids and Music (director Ramón Tort) that followed the group and won several festival prizes — helping to show the band’s model to a broader audience. Local cultural institutions in Barcelona regularly program SAJB concerts, and the band is often mentioned as a reference point for youth jazz education in Spain. (L’Aixeta)
Style, repertoire, and musical identity
Musically, the band favors the jazz standards canon, swing-era repertoire, bossa nova, and arrangements adapted to young voices and instruments. What makes SAJB distinctive is the combination of accurate, idiomatic arrangements and the refreshingly candid sound of developing musicians — solos that risk as much as they reward, and ensemble playing shaped by intensive rehearsal and frequent live experience. That honest, youthful energy — guided by Chamorro’s taste and discipline — is the signature. (Viquipèdia)
Legacy and the present day
Over nearly two decades (2006 → present) the Sant Andreu Jazz Band has become more than a neighborhood youth orchestra: it’s a recognized model for jazz pedagogy, an artist factory that feeds the professional scene, and a cultural ambassador for Barcelona jazz. Many former members are now professional musicians and collaborators on national and international stages; the band continues to perform, record and present projects that mix current students and alumni under Chamorro’s direction. The SAJB story illustrates how focused, performance-based education can produce both rigorous musicianship and genuine artistic personalities. (Joan Chamorro)