Koldo Munné Expands His Musical Universe
Having a talk with 19-year-old Barcelona saxophonist Koldo Munné is always a pleasure; he is friendly, outgoing, articulate (his English is better than that of most American teens), and enthusiastic about his life in music — past, present, and future.
Having been a member of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band since he was barely 8 years old, his years of hard work under the leadership of Joan Chamorro have been paying off with satisfying musical successes, such as the Joan Chamorro presenta Koldo Munne CD released in 2023. He is currently the senior member of the stellar SAJB sax section — and plans to continue in that role for another year — where he shines as a saxophonist, singer, and composer.
The project he is most excited about is his new CD, 15 20, set for release in the fall, with a single to be released later in June. It’s an ambitious project, for which Koldo is the composer, arranger, conductor, and producer.
As for the meaning behind the album’s title, 15 20, he prefers to keep that to himself. “I’m not actually sharing it with people because it does have a meaning, not just random numbers, but on my album Joan Chamorro presenta Koldo Munne, one of the three songs I wrote for it is called “Fifteen Twenty,” but with letters, not numbers.
“So, that song specifically talks about a love story, and this new album actually talks about that same love story.” He adds that he’s very comfortable allowing the meaning of the title stay a secret. But he’s also happy to talk about how he wanted to expand on the story of that original love ballad — reminiscent of those from the Great American Songbook — and eventually create the new album from there.
Much of the music on 15 20 will be quite different from what people who follow Koldo’s work in the SAJB are accustomed to hearing from him. He tries to avoid using specific descriptions and labels with his music, but he does concede, “It’s obviously not what I’ve been doing all these years with the SAJB, where we do a lot of traditional jazz. That’s definitely not what this album is. I like to say that it is a mix of my musical roots, which are jazz and classical music — those are the two kinds of music that I know the most and have studied, and where my musical knowledge comes from. The album’s a mix of both of those, but also mixed with other different inspirations and references I have, like Broadway music, pop music, country music, so it’s a mix of different things but I would say that the thing you can find most in the album is jazz, in the way that the melodies and harmonies are written, and classical music, in the way the songs are arranged, especially with the instruments I write for, in a very classical way — trying to recreate what I learned studying classical music. So that’s how I would explain it, but again I’m not such a fan of labeling.”
He elaborates on how the composing process has worked for him:
“The way it happened is that for me — because this album is all original songs —when I sit at the piano and I’m writing a song, I’m not, like, ‘okay, I’m gonna write a jazz song’ or a pop song, it’s just like I’m writing a song because I have something to tell and talk about, and the style of the music is just the way I put these feelings into the song, but it’s not something planned. It’s something that happens, and it can be a very jazzy song, or rock song, or a very cheesy piano ballad…whatever it is, I don’t plan it ahead.
“This is a conceptual album in that it tells a story. It tells the love story chronologically — a story that happened to me — and so there were some songs that I wrote at the moment in which those things were happening two or three years ago, and then there were some songs I wrote afterwards, when I knew it was going to be an album, to complete the things that were missing from the story.”
The recording sessions involved a surprising number of personnel. “I counted,” he says. “There are 63 people on this album! And they come from different places. I did a professional degree in classical saxophone at IEA Oriol Martorell here in Barcelona. Everyone there studied classical music and most of the people in the string section come from there. And most I would say are from Conservatory Liceu, which is where I’m studying for my jazz saxophone degree. Others are friends and people I met in the music school in Sant Andreu, where I first started studying music. It’s a mix of a lot of people I’ve been getting to know along the way, especially with the choir. I think there’s 36 people in the choir, from very different moments in my life. And suddenly getting to have them all in the same place is very meaningful for me. This album was 100% recorded with my friends.
“I’m at a point in my life where I’m surrounded by a lot of people who are really great human beings and great friends, who are also great musicians who want to do things, to play together. That’s what I find most beautiful about it. There are also friends in my year at Liceu who are doing their own projects that I’m also a part of — I record saxophone for your album, you record something for mine — it’s really beautiful that we’re able to help each other.”
He knows that 15 20 is a very ambitious album, especially for his first independent album, and he concedes, “I guess for me, the choir, the string section, all that, it’s not something that I needed 100%. I could have recorded this album without the 36-person choir. But it was an excuse to bring as many friends to be a part of it as I could. That was the whole point of it. But also, usually when I write music, I’m also thinking of the arrangement that I want for that song I’m writing, and so when I decided that I wanted to record the album, it was very hard for me to conceive of those songs without the arrangement that I thought of. If I’m really gonna do this, and spend my money and my time recording this album, I’m gonna do it the way I’m imagining it, which is with all these people and instruments and arrangements. So, for me it was something that was very necessary and, as I said, an excuse to bring all of my friends in.”
As he delves deeper into composing and arranging, he enjoys the challenge, but it doesn’t always come easily.
“It depends. Sometimes I sit at the piano and I know what I know what I want the song to sound like, and it just happens. And sometimes I do struggle. One of the songs I wrote five or six versions of that same song. It was one of the songs I wrote to fit in that bit of story that was missing. I couldn’t find the right song to fit, so yes, sometimes I do struggle quite a lot.”
Our conversation led to his hopes for possible future ventures, perhaps even in musical theatre.
“You got me there!” he says. “I’ve always been a huge fan of musicals, and I’ve always been a huge fan of movie soundtracks. That’s something that I wish I will be able to do at some point in my life, even if it’s writing a musical or being part of it as an actor or as a musician. That’s a world I really want to be a part of — and to write soundtracks for movies. It’s something I’ve really wanted to do and those two passions I also brought them into this album, which is like a musical. It has, in the style of the songs, old Broadway jazz music in some songs, and also, conceptually, it is more similar to a musical in terms of how the story is told.”
He explains further that “the album has nine songs; the first four songs are the first act, the fifth song is like an intermission or interlude, and then there’s four other songs that are the second act. So, the way it’s structured like a musical. Musicals were a big inspiration for this album and it’s definitely something I want to do at some point in the future.”
But will playing straight, traditional jazz in clubs and elsewhere still have a place in his future career?
“Totally! The last thing I want to do as a musician is reduce myself into doing only one thing. I like to think that the greatest thing about being a musician is that you can kind of dive through this musical universe which is so vast and big and diverse, and you can find your spot, or various spots, and do many things. And that’s what I want to do.”
In addition to his dream of writing musicals and/or film soundtracks, he has other goals. “I’d also love be a teacher, and play jazz music, and classical music at some point…That’s why I say I’m not a jazz musician, I’m a musician. Let’s imagine I could make a living out of doing just concerts of my songs — that won’t ever happen, but if that were the case, I would not want all of my life to be that. I love playing with other musicians — playing piano with this person, singing with this other one, playing saxophone with another one — and it’s also about making money! You want to enjoy it but you also want to be able to make a living out of it. I also do concerts sometimes that I don’t enjoy that much, but I have to make a living out of it. So it’s about finding a balance between those things. The more versatile you are, the more things you can do and the more jobs you can have. If I study many different things, I’ll be able to do many different things.”
He enjoys spending time with fellow music students who also immerse themselves in projects and who perform locally, as several SAJB members have been doing — such as Lola Peñaranda and Asier Vasquez with their small groups — as they continue in the band.
“It’s something very natural and organic that happens,” he says of the way the SAJB works. “You get into the band, and the first years you’re playing section, and that’s it, that’s more than enough. And then at some point you do start getting solos — and that happens in the SAJB and any band. The more time you’re in the band and the more experience you get, the more opportunities there are to get in the spotlight.”
Even as the SAJB’s experience in New York at Essentially Ellington slowly recedes into the past, it has left an indelible impression on the musicians, who came in 2nd Place among 30 competing big bands, almost all representing American high schools.
“I’m still trying to process the whole thing,” he says, “because when we got back from New York, I had about four days of peace and quiet, and then I had final exams, so I needed to process it and get it out as fast as I could, ’cause I needed to study.
“It’s really heavy, what happened. I’m very proud of us and everything we did, and I’m very happy that it’s a memory I can keep.”
And what’s coming up for this summer?
“We’re going to Germany the last week in June, and we’re also recording a live session in the studio in June. A single from my album will come out June 18th, and the album comes out in September — I don’t have the exact date.
“And I’m looking forward to the presentation concert for the album at the Jamboree on October 3. I hope we can get more concerts because it’s a project I’ve been working a lot with, so I hope I can manage to do things with it because it’s a lot of money and a lot of time, and a lot of passion. I really did enjoy the process. I’m very comfortable with everything because obviously with music everything is so uncertain, so no one can tell you if it’s going to work, or if people will listen to it and like it.
“So, I’ve been thinking I’ve enjoyed every part of the process so much, and I’ve also learned so much from it. So, even if it doesn’t work as well as I wished it would, no one can take all of that enjoyment and learning from me. For people who know me for doing more traditional jazz, sometimes I’m a little bit concerned that they’ll say, ‘wait, what is this?’ But jazz is part of who I am musically, and this is also part of who I am musically, not too far from jazz. It’s something different, but it’s also part of me. And maybe my jazz ‘persona’ is for a certain audience, and my 15 20 persona is for another audience.”
He also considers how the passage of time can have an effect on his or others’ perspective of a project or album.
“People are always evolving. So I think it’s very natural, if you write an album five years ago and it sounds this way, and then five years later you write something else, and there’s obviously five years of musical and personal growing, so it’s gonna sound different…now that I have the final result, I’m very proud of what I hear, of how it sounds, and that just makes me really happy and makes me want to share it with people.
“Maybe in five years I’ll listen to this album and think, ‘oh my god, I hate that.’ I listen to certain songs on Joan Chamorro presenta Koldo Munné and I’m like, ‘oh, that was not very good singing,’ because it’s been two years since I recorded it and I’ve improved a lot, so I guess it’s natural that it happens.”
Until next time…
You can read my 125+ online articles, including over 30 related to the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, at the links below, and at the “Garry’s Blog” page on my website, www.GarryBerman.com. The site also includes synopses and reviews of my books, which you can order via the links to Amazon.com.
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SAJB-related articles:
“Celebrating the SAJB’s Journey to Essentially Ellington” | by Garry Berman | May, 2025 | Medium
“Celebrating Five Years of FOSAJB”| by Garry Berman | Mar, 2025 | Medium
“Catching Up with Jazz Violin Virtuoso Èlia Bastida” | by Garry Berman | Medium
“Joe Magnarelli Returns to the SAJB” | by Garry Berman | Oct. 2024 | Medium
“Joan Chamorro and the SAJB in 2024” | by Garry Berman | Medium
“Lola Peñaranda’s Sax Does the Talking” | by Garry Berman | April, 2024 | Medium
“Catching up with Anastasia Ivanova” |April, 2024 | Medium
“The Jazz House Story”| by Garry Berman | March, 2024 | Medium
“Joana Casanova Finds Her New Musical Direction” | by Garry Berman | Jan. 2024 | Medium
“Andrea Motis: Europe’s Jazz Queen” | by Garry Berman | Jan. 2024 | Medium
“Bossa Nova Returns to Barcelona” | by Garry Berman | Medium| by Garry Berman | Medium
“Carla Motis: A Quiet Force on Jazz Guitar” | by Garry Berman | Sept, 2023 | Medium
“Memories of my Visit to Jazzing Fest, 2023” | by Garry Berman | Sept, 2023 | Medium
“Meet Asier Vázquez, The SAJB’s Eager New Guitarist” | by Garry Berman | Medium
“Koldo Munné’s Musical Journey” | by Garry Berman | June, 2023 | Medium
“Claudia Rostey’s Rising Star” | by Garry Berman | June, 2023 | Medium
“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
The Sant Andreu Jazz Band is always grateful for donations large and small to help the project continue to record and release new albums, perform live concerts, and maintain a successful project, with all that it entails.
