Claudia Rostey’s Rising Star
It’s always satisfying to see creative young people continuing to build upon their previous accomplishments as they reach for new goals, especially at an age when a sudden whim, distraction, or loss of interest could endanger an otherwise promising career.
The Sant Andreu Jazz Band of Barcelona has introduced us to dozens of such dedicated young people — most of whom have not needed to confront such distractions — as it has become known among European jazz fans (and those in the rest of the world, thanks to YouTube) for its past and present roster of exceptional jazz musicians, ranging in age from about 8 to 21. Founded in 2006 by Joan Chamorro, the band has been delighting audiences by presenting an array of classic big band swing, bebop, and bossa nova standards with the skill and polish of musicians decades older than the SAJB’s evolving lineup of members.
We got to know trombonist/singer Claudia Rostey nearly two years ago (you can read the original piece in the link posted at the end of this article). As is the case in the SAJB world, two years can bring about tremendous change and growth in the band, and among the young musicians individually.
So, Claudia has much to update us about (via an enjoyable video call).
While she is halfway through her studies for a degree in trombone at the ESMUC (Catalonia College of Music in Barcelona), and very busy with the band, she is also teaching music to children.
“I always wanted to be a teacher, as a child. I’ve always loved being a teacher…This year I took a course in Dalcroze methodology.” [The Dalcroze method, also known as Dalcroze Eurhythmics, is often used by educators to teach musical concepts. Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, a Swiss educator, developed the method to teach rhythm, structure, and musical expression through music and movement.]
“And I started teaching groups of children in the music school, ages between 4 and 12, very basic things. I teach them songs, how to write the major scale, how to write the treble cleft, major and minor chords…it’s basically to teach them how to listen to music and how to understand it. I teach them the different parts and, like, the tempos and basic things, and to play a little bit with music. It’s shown to them in a year’s span.” She says by using the Methodology Dalcroze, it’s almost as if the kids learn without realizing it. “You’re doing it with movement, activities, and listening, having fun, and they start to learn by being students of that.
“You have to be joyful about it and want to work in it…I have a group of about ten students, and maybe two of them are very promising, or want to work in music and are very interested, the others might not really want to be there, but that little bit is very nice to see. And even if they don’t want to pursue a career [in music], it’s nice to give them the possibility to try, to see if they like it. Even if you don’t play an instrument and just enjoy listening to music, it’s like general knowledge, to know some basic things, and I think it enriches you as a person to know.”
That comment leads to the discussion of what might be best described as Claudia’s intellectual curiosity. While she doesn’t necessarily strive to become an expert on any one topic, she enjoys learning for its own sake, and has interests in subjects far removed from music. “I know a bit of science - I don’t have a career in science, but I’m interested in science, I read papers, I read reports, I like to watch [documentary] films, and I like to keep myself informed. I also love animals and a lot of things, and I like to learn about a lot of things, and be cultural about everything in general, and I’m happier now. I think children need to be more curious.”
Her attitude is genuinely refreshing. “Sometimes people are focused on one thing, and they’re experts, and they’re great,” she says, “but I like to experience different things; I’m not the best on trombone, and I’m not the best at knowing every musician in the jazz world, or don’t know everything about jazz, and if I’m not a complete freak about that — but I am, I fully am — but not as much as some of my colleagues, for example. But I know about general things, and I’m happy that I can move between worlds.”
Her list of interests extends still further. “I study Greek and Latin — not translating so much — and I really love ancient cultures, learning about the architecture, or the culture, or whatever. I remember I went to Rome with a friend, and we visited the Colosseum, and I basically could do the [tour] myself. I could explain everything they said, or even more, and I was very proud of it.”
Her striving to be a well-rounded person, even though she’s still just shy of her twentieth birthday, is not only impressive, but — even with her talents as a musician and singer — keeps her humble at the same time.
“For me, I think it comes from my family,” she says, having been immersed in music all of her life. She’s the daughter of musicians and music educators. Her mother, Montserrat Cristau, is an experienced singer and director of the Escola de Música de Girona. Her father, Rafel Rostey Garcia, is also a musician and teacher at the school.
“My parents always liked jazz,” she says. “I remember my dad showing me records and CD’s, or hearing my mom singing both opera and jazz, so I’ve kind of liked this style, though I was very little, and not really encouraged in music, apart from singing every now and then with my sister.”
Nevertheless, her choice not to live for music at the exclusion of all else is due to another family member. “My grandfather is a musician too, and he’s always obsessed with music. It was the only thing he talked about. He doesn’t ask what we did in school or whatever, only about music, always. And for him, there’s nothing else that exists. I think, maybe I don’t want to be like that. For me, music is really important, I love to be a musician and I love to study music, and I’m very grateful for it, but I also love my family, I love to watch TV, I love to read, learn about different things, I love to cook, I love to do very different things.”
We briefly mention her fellow trombonist, young Russian virtuoso Anastasia Ivanova, who is known and respected for her laser-focused approach to learning and performing both jazz and classical music as a lifelong calling.
“I may not be the best,” Claudia says, “and I will not be as good as Anastasia at trombone or singing, but I will be happy with my life, even though I’m not the absolute best, or know everything. But I know I want to have a family, and a life apart from music. I don’t want to be focused only on music, perhaps because I don’t want to be as my grandfather.”
She appreciates being with non-musicians, to learn a bit about their own fields of specialty or expertise.
“My boyfriend is not a musician, he’s an engineer, he likes music, of course, but if I talk about chords or what I learned at university, he doesn’t understand. And when he talks about the thesis that he just handed in, sometimes I don’t understand what he’s saying — I see math problems, I see things I don’t understand. I don’t need to understand it, but I want to at least understand a little.”
While being a part of the SAJB can mean a fairly intense schedule of rehearsals, recording, and performing, Claudia knows when she needs to put on the brakes, if possible. “I don’t want to always be around music,” she says. “Sometimes I get overstimulated, and just need to rest from music. With Joan, for example, its always music, always, always. Sometimes I need silence!” she laughs.
Having said that, she is happy to talk about some recent SAJB gigs, as well as what the summer of 2023 has in store. Recently, she took part in an exciting if exhausting weekend of four concerts at Barcelona’s famous Jamboree jazz club, which has been a second home of sorts for the SAJB for the past decade. The occasion involved the recording of two live albums: the Joan Chamorro presenta Koldo Munne cd, showcasing the longtime SAJB saxophonist (who is still only 17), with none other than guest tenor sax legend Scott Hamilton taking part, as he has done so many times for much of the band’s history. “Scott Hamilton is a really nice person and a really amazing man, and you don’t expect him to be that nice!”
The other recording at the Jamboree featured a newer off-shoot of the SAJB, the Reunion Band, a mix of senior SAJB musicians and former members.
“It was amazing,” Claudia says of the weekend. “It was really draining — four sets over two days, and we were recording the previous days at the Jazz House. I think we did from Sunday to Sunday, every day, 4 to 8 hours every day, recording, playing, rehearsing, and I was (laughs) really tired, but very happy to do that, and Koldo was really happy, and the songs are amazing. Some of them are his originals, and I just love to see him that happy and take part in that.”
[There will be more about the Jamboree gigs in an upcoming article featuring Koldo].
While she has gained prominence in the SAJB trombone section since joining in 2019, some of her trombonist colleagues — Perot Rigau, Hugo Vlach, and Luc Martin — are still not known quite as well by even the most devoted SAJB fans.
She gladly provides a bit of insight into her colleagues in the trombone section:
“Well, there’s Hugo, whose been in the band about five years now. He’s 17, and I think he wants to be a pilot. He doesn’t want to pursue music as a career, but he loves to play trombone, of course. He’s really very private and doesn’t use social media as much as others. He’s very friendly with other people in the band, but with outsiders maybe it’s a little more difficult. But he’s really nice and usually does third trombone, sometimes second if I’m not playing, or if I’m playing first.
“Then there’s Luc, he’s very energetic, like a bomb. I think he wants to be like Anastasia, playing music and only that. I think that he’ll be a little like that. He’s really focused and growing a lot playing trombone, and he’s getting better and better every day. And he’s starting to do his solos and do different tunes. He wants to participate in jams, and he’s very promising.
“And Perot is my best friend, I love him, he’s one of my best friends in the band, like Koldo, and he has first chair, but we change sometimes — I would do first, he does fourth or second…He wants to be a classical musician, he doesn’t want to be a jazz musician, but he loves playing in the band. Now he’s doing the exam to major in classical trombone.”
Perot has also stepped up to the microphone as a singer in recent months. “It was Joan’s idea to have him sing. Perot didn’t really want to, but Joan insisted on it, and now I think he’s enjoying it. He was really scared at first, that’s why we did a duet first, but now he’s getting more confident about it. And in the Reunion CD you’ll hear him sing one song solo, I think, and two duets, one with Koldo, and one with me.”
Perot’s duet with Koldo is a swing version of the kid’s song “Old Macdonald,” borrowing from a rendition by Ella Fitzerald. “That was really funny seeing the faces on people when they recognized it,” Claudia says, “Perot found it on an Ella CD, and he absolutely loved it and wanted to do it, and Joan said, of course we will do that.”
Speaking of SAJB musicians making song suggestions to Chamorro, Claudia has done her fair share of that as well. It was her idea to ask her leader if she could sing “You Stepped Out of a Dream,” on which she handles both the vocals and a trombone solo (seen here in a 2022 concert).
“I asked Joan if I could do that. On the Reunion CD, I’m singing two songs that I asked Joan to do, one is ‘Let’s Dream in the Moonlight,’ and the other is the ballad ‘You’ve Changed,’ that I absolutely love. Every time I sing it I want to cry. The lyrics are so painful and so beautiful at the same time. I didn’t hear the recording yet, but I hope it’s good and you’ll like it because its a song that I really appreciate.”
Traveling to new locales and cultures to perform has long been an added benefit for the young SAJB members. Claudia is excited that the band will perform in Hungary and Austria this August. “I will take a lot of pictures, and send them to my family, and I will bring souvenirs for everyone! I love to travel, when we went to Sweden I was absolutely thrilled to be there.”
More recently, she reports, the band is learning Count Basie songs, partly because the average age of the musicians is much lower now. “I think I’m the oldest one, except for [bassist] Jordi, so we’re doing ‘easier’ things — they aren’t easy, but they’re easier than other things...so we’re doing a lot of Duke Ellington and Count Basie songs that are really good…Noa [Abike Bazuaye, saxophone] and Anna [Ndiaye, piano] are starting to sing. They are real young, but they’re really focused and intelligent, and very nice people.”
Fans will likely see the results of the updated big band repertoire in September, when the SAJB will host its tenth Jazzing Fest. Likely guests will include Scott Hamilton, Joel Frahm, and Claudia’s one-time trombone teacher, Alba Pujols. “She was indeed my teacher for a while, and now I’m doing lessons with Albert Costa all summer long. Alba studied in the Netherlands and then went to study at Julliard. And she’s a really good trombone player, and she’s a really good person, I loved her as my teacher. I really look forward to playing with her again.
“And, this year I will sing two songs at Jazzing.” This should come as a welcome bit of news to all who were disappointed without a singing performance from Claudia at last year’s Jazzing, which was devoted to bossa nova. The cd release of that event will be released in September as well. She admits that the single theme last year required a rest from bossa nova afterward, but she says “I’m really looking forward to listening to the album. I loved working with [singer] Carmen Canela and the others.”
The cd of bossa nova at Jazzing is due out in September, but the Passing the Torch disc is being released first. Claudia’s educated guess is “because it’s more typically what we do. I think Joan wanted to give the fans something they’re used to, then something different.”
“In the new cd I’m singing two songs, and this year I think I’m gonna record two more songs in English, and one in Portuguese. I don’t think I’ll be given any more songs [this year], I think Joan wants to give the spotlight to the little ones.”
Her future in the SAJB might include her own “Presenta” cd, which she might record in a year or two, if everything goes as planned. “It’s nothing that I can promise,” she stresses, “but we’ve talked about it, and maybe someday I’ll be recording it, and I look forward to that day.
“This year I’m turning 20, so I think I’ll have one or two more years, more or less. And then I hope I’ll be in other projects with Joan like the Reunion Band, or other things that I’m very grateful to take part in, and I will be sad when it will have ended. If Joan ever contacts me to take part in some project or to play with the SAJB, if I can and if I’m able to, I’ll always say yes.”
Until next time…
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Read my previous articles related to the Sant Andreu Jazz Band at the links below, or at the “Garry’s Blog” page on the website www.GarryBerman.com, and feel free to visit or join the Facebook group Friends of Sant Andreu Jazz Band (of which I am co-founder and administrator).
“A Film About Kids and Music: Ten Years Later” https://medium.com/@garryberman/a-film-about-kids-and-music-ten-years-later-50d5bf96f53b
“Marching to a Different Bassist: The Music of Magali Datzira” | by Garry Berman | Medium
“Kindred Spirits: How Joan Chamorro and Isidore Rudnick Teach Jazz to Kids” https://medium.com/@garryberman/kindred-spirits-how-joan-chamorro-and-isidore-rudnick-teach-jazz-to-kids-2d0cb80bed77
“The Compelling Music of Elia Bastida and Carolina Alabau” https://medium.com/@garryberman/the-compelling-music-of-%C3%A8lia-bastida-and-carolina-alabau-65da74f07804
“The SAJB’s Koldo Munne Steps into the Jazz Spotlight” https://garryberman.medium.com/the-sajbs-koldo-munn%C3%A9-steps-into-the-jazz-spotlight-238b3231626f
“A Tale of Two Albas” https://garryberman.medium.com/a-tale-of-two-albas-904849a5e697
“How a Kids Band in Barcelona Rekindled My Love of Jazz” https://garryberman.medium.com/how-a-kids-band-in-barcelona-rekindled-my-love-of-jazz-a20ea8873670
“Jan Domenech’s New Chapter as a Jazz Musician” https://garryberman.medium.com/jan-domenechs-new-chapter-as-a-jazz-musician-e1f0da8b19b9
“Joan Chamorro and the SAJB: Past, Present, and Future” https://medium.com/@garryberman/joan-chamorro-and-the-sajb-past-present-and-future-573eedcbff76
“Josep Traver: Guitarist of All Trades” https://garryberman.medium.com/josep-traver-guitarist-of-all-trades-608296f9d00a
“When American Jazz Pros Meet Spanish Jazz Kids” https://garryberman.medium.com/when-american-jazz-pros-meet-spanish-jazz-kids-25c7f5023571
“Claudia Rostey: The Life of an 18-year-old Bacelona Jazz Trombonist” https://garryberman.medium.com/claudia-rostey-the-life-of-an-18-year-old-barcelona-jazz-trombonist-d13b82c770a3
“The Magic of the Voice: The Singers of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band” https://garryberman.medium.com/the-magic-of-the-voice-the-singers-of-the-sant-andreu-jazz-band-208dfb629221
“Jobim is Alive and Well in Barcelona” https://garryberman.medium.com/jobim-is-alive-and-well-in-barcelona-d384b40d8c2e
“Did Someone Say Anastasia Ivanova?” https://garryberman.medium.com/did-someone-say-anastasia-ivanova-dd6f67277c64
“Struck by (musical) Lightning” https://garryberman.medium.com/struck-by-musical-lightning-6583ecb0de13
Sant Andreu Jazz Band CDs and DVDs are available at: https://jazztojazz.com, eBay, and Amazon.com.
