Joan Chamorro (Barcelona, 1962), a well-known name in the Barcelona jazz scene, is unstoppable.
An entry with his name on Wikipedia already has an outlet that he plays, and a lot: sax, acoustic bass, clarinet, flute, trumpet.
Among a thousand other gigs (musician-anglicist-slang for “shows” or works), Chamorro has already been part of the big band of the renowned school Taller de Músics, in Barcelona, and has a quintet with the Spanish singer and trumpeter Andrea Motis.
But it is with the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, which brings together young musicians aged between 7 and 21, that the charismatic and aggregating persona of Chamorro-musical-director emerges most beautifully. The big band was the subject of an award-winning 2012 documentary, Kids and Music, which can be viewed in its entirety here:
The orchestra is part of the program of the 9th edition of the Jazzing Festival, from Friday (02) to Monday (05), directed by Chamorro and totally dedicated to our dear Brazilian country, in honor of our two centuries of (more or less) independence.
The most beautiful thing is to see young musicians kicking ass alongside veterans. In addition to the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, the event will have concerts by the Brazilians Vanessa Moreno, the cute AnaLu Sampaio and the guitarist Jurandir Santana, who performs with the Catalan singer Carme Canela, among others. The singer Rosa Passos, super name promised for the festival, could not come due to health problems.
BRAZIL FOREVIS
Chamorro’s passion for Brazilian music comes from very far away.
For years, the musician naturally includes themes from our songbook in his repertoire. Like the last version of Triste recorded in 2016 with the then super young Alba Armengou, partner on the beautiful album Joan Chamorro Presents Alba armengoufrom 2019:
Wearing a T-shirt, shorts and bare feet as he conducted a big band rehearsal for the festival this past Thursday, Chamorro is the uncomplicated antipode of the jazzstar, but he has everything to be pop — his more than 300,000 followers on social media say so.
Chamorro was the artist honored at the last Voll-Damm Jazz Festival in Barcelona, another well-known event in the city. The 2022 edition of the event, by the way, will also be steeped in Brazil, with the presence of Toquinho, Hermeto Pascoal and Yamandu Costa in the Catalan capital between October and November.
According to Chamorro, Brazilian music is more than a special honoree: the country transcends categories and is a permanent presence at the festival, thanks to the rhythm and improvisation “which marry very well with jazz”. Yea yea, Joan, it’s us. That the grass, the mud, everything is my sister-aaa-aa….
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Jazzing Festival 2022
From the 2nd to the 5th of September
Fabra i Coats – Barcelona
https://jazzingfestival.com/
Voll-Damm Jazz Festival 2022
Toquinho – October 27 – Palau de la Música Catalana
Hermeto Pascoal – November 2nd – Sala Apolo
Yamandu Costa – November 19 – Conservatori del Liceu
https://www.jazz.barcelona/es
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