Lola Peñaranda’s Sax Does the Talking
Lola Peñaranda has been quietly capturing the imagination and interest of fans of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, as she presents her more self-assured tenor sax solos and highly valued section work with each performance of the past four years. She is quiet by nature, but enthusiastic in pursuing her life in music.
Her brother Gerard is the younger of the two, and has been in the band’s trumpet section since 2019; Lola joined the SAJB in late 2020.
They were part of a “new generation” of SAJB musicians who had joined the band in relatively short order, replacing several senior members who customarily leave the project around the time they turn 21.
Lola and Gerard are among the many siblings who have played together in the Sant Andreu Jazz Band throughout its 18-year history, including Magali and Iscle Datzira, Andrea and Carla Motis, Koldo and Max Munne, Alba and Elsa Armengou, Pau, Nil, and Noa Galgo, Sander and Nils Theuns, and others.
Lola and Gerard’s father, Paco Peñaranda Peraile, is a guitarist, so music could be heard in the home often.
“I started music when my parents put me in a music school. And my grandfather played saxophone, too. My father plays guitar at home and when I started to play saxophone, we played together.”
Back to the beginning…
When Lola was first becoming more exposed to music, playing saxophone in particular wasn’t necessarily a burning desire at the time. “I started when I was 8 years old, but I don’t know what was in my head at that time. After all these years, I really like it.”
She and Gerard became aware of the SAJB while attending music school. “The name of the school is Oriol Martorell, a combination school and conservatory, and I went to the same class with Elsa. I knew the band, and Elsa was in my class for years, but I was studying classical music. But my father likes jazz so I started to do some things with jazz, but I didn’t think about it when I was younger. When I was older, I didn’t know what I wanted to do in music, I wasn’t sure.
“When I saw the opportunity to join the SAJB, Marcel Perramon, Joana Casanova and Joan Marti left, so I saw this opportunity, and I wanted to prove it. My mother talked to Joan Chamorro.”
As is the usual procedure for new SAJB musicians, Chamorro gave Lola recordings from the greats to study and transcribe. Among her favorite players are Scott Hamilton, Hank Mobley, and Stan Getz.
She also has attended two different music band camps. “One is Tallers Musicals d’Avinyó in Catalonia and is about jazz. Gerard and I have been going since 2016, and the last two years we have coincided with SAJB bandmates.” When she was new to the experience, she liked how it was a more relaxed environment than learning music in school. “It was different because at school I didn’t play jazz. In the summer Gerard and I used to go, and we learned a lot of new things. We played in combos, and there were concerts at night and jams, and masterclasses.
“And the other one is called Campus Rock, it’s more about rock and modern music.” She first attended in 2019. “I went three years, it was a weekend and one of the days we could present our compositions, and the teachers chose two or three and we played.”
She’s thinking of doing more composing in the future. “I don’t do it very much now, but I like it, I have some ideas and sometimes I record ideas, or I write them on paper. But lately I don’t have finished songs.”
Even without composing, her involvement with the SAJB extended to its side combos, such as the Reunion Band and Dixie Band.
Lola and Gerard have also shared the spotlight for performances such as “Recordame,” for the 2022 “Passing the Torch” concert at the Palau de Musica:
Travel has always been a part of the SAJB experience, and she has had her favorite locales, including Hungry and Austria last summer, and Sweden with Reunion Band earlier in the year. “It was cold. And it snowed! It was a beautiful experience because with the Reunion Band, this gig was longer, more travel, and we had fun.”
Apart from the SAJB, Lola had an opportunity to lead a quartet in July, 2023 for one concert at Nova Jazz Cava in Barcelona. “I used to go there for jam sessions, and one day one of the organizers asked me if I want to play there. At that moment I didn’t have a group of mine, so I asked Jordi Herrera, who was in the SAJB too, and Edu Vergés who was studying with me, and Oriol Ventura on drums, I knew him from jams.”
Gerard joined them onstage later in the set, as did SAJB trumpeter Martí Costalago, and others. A video excerpt of the gig:
While she played occasionally with the SAJB Dixie Band last year, the only plans to do so again in 2024 would be as part of concerts including the entire SAJB.
In September of 2023, she took part in the Jazzing Educational Stage workshops and, of course, the Jazzing Big Band, while also sharing center stage with tenor giants Scott Hamilton and Joel Frahm.
Her fellow SAJB saxophonist Koldo Munné offered considerable praise for Lola when asked about her last year. “She is amazing. I met Lola I think six years ago. We went to the same high school. And since she started in the SAJB, she has made such huge progress, and now she’s playing amazing solos and her tenor sounds incredible. I love listening to her. I think she’s been in the band two or three years, and she’s had an amazing evolution. She’s kind of shy when you meet her for the first time, she doesn’t talk a lot, but when you start hanging out with her more often, she’s just a lovely person.”
They blazed through Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee” at Koldo’s concert earlier in 2024 to celebrate the release of his presenta CD:
Joan Chamorro continues to assign Lola more solos for SAJB arrangements, due to her impressive progress. “At the beginning, I had more charts to study, and I was really enjoying it — I felt good playing them, it’s what I had to do at that moment. When I joined the band, I couldn’t improvise.”
But her advancement is clear when listening to her recent solos, such as this one supporting Edu Ferrer on “Get Me to the Church on Time” at the Festival BarSwingona in the Plaça Real, Barcelona in April of 2024:
She has also been busy with her own side projects, and enjoys playing with or leading a small groups. She currently performs regularly at La Vicicleta in Barcelona, with TiJazz, a trio including SAJB bassist Mateu Teixidó and local guitarist Pau Alvareez.
“This was an idea from Mateu, he told me that he found the restaurant where we can play, and he suggested we get Pau Alvareez. I knew him from the Django Orchestra Academy.” She considers continuing with small groups after her days with the SAJB. “Yes, I like it, we like playing the standards,” she says of TiJazz. Sometimes, she admits, the crowd could pay a bit more attention. “It’s better when they are listening and applaud the solos — other days, they’re talking more, but it’s fine.”
A link to a video of the TiJazz in action:
As of this writing, the SAJB saxophone section is preparing for another Jamboree gig on the 11th of June, working out an intriguing idea of Joan Chamorro’s which will feature only that section of the band. “We started to prepare last week,” she says, “and we’re playing new tunes.”
Like so many past and present SAJB musicians, it’s easy to see that Lola is fairly immersed in jazz, eager to learn and play as the opportunities increase, and her reputation as a musician grows only more favorable with each passing year.
Until next time…
You can read my 100+ articles, including those 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. You can order them via the links to Amazon.com.
Please click the “follow” button and follow me on Medium (for no charge) for more articles on popular culture, music, films, television, entertainment history, and just plain old history.
Even better, you can become a member in the Medium Partner Program for a modest fee to help support my writing! https://garryberman.medium.com/membership
“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 and all that entails.
Sant Andreu Jazz Band CDs and DVDs are available at: https://jazztojazz.com, eBay, and Amazon.com.
