"It's very hard
to get a personal, identifiable sound when orchestrating for a Big Band, but -
almost miraculously - Juan Andrés Ospina makes it happen. Bingo!" -
Paquito D'Rivera
Powerful yet invisible, momentarily ferocious yet leaving
behind idyllic, crystal clear skies; the Tramontana is a true force of nature,
a gale force wind that lashes Spain's Catalan coastline. It serves as an apt
inspiration for composer and bandleader Juan Andrés Ospina, who has experienced
its strength and beauty firsthand and has translated the wind's stirring and
awe-invoking qualities into music for Tramontana, the debut release by his
phenomenal big band. Soul-stirring and vigorous, a family affair as well as a
multinational congregation, the Juan Andrés Ospina Big Band embodies the
contradictory essence of this formidable natural phenomenon.
Due out April 20, 2018 Tramontana is the extraordinary
fulfillment of nearly a decade of dreaming and a lifetime's immersion in music.
Born into a musical and artistic family in Bogotá, Colombia, Ospina chanced
into his gift for big band composing and arranging while a student at Boston's
Berklee College of Music. The album's realization follows a successful,
inventive Kickstarter campaign and the enthusiastic encouragement of renowned
bandleaders Paquito D'Rivera and Maria Schneider. It brings together a gifted
ensemble of artists of ten different nationalities, performing Ospina's
striking originals, one radically transformed standard, and a passionate song
by Colombian singer Lucia Pulido.
"This is something that I've felt for a long time that
I had to do," Ospina says. "I just needed to find the courage to
finally do it."
One listen to the majestic and richly textured pieces that
make up Tramontana and it's obvious why Ospina felt so compelled to pursue the
daunting task of assembling a big band to record his music. He never set out to
become a bandleader on this scale, however; his first piece for big band, in
fact, was nothing more than a classroom assignment. It was under the tutelage
of Greg Hopkins at Berklee that Ospina crafted the dramatic rendition of
"Like Someone In Love" that appears on the album, reharmonized and
with the well-known melody stretched to unrecognizable lengths, creating
something that feels both familiar and fresh.
That description also applies to the ensemble itself, which
combines longtime collaborators and new acquaintances. Several of them were on
stage alongside him when Ospina premiered his original big band pieces at his
Berklee graduation in 2007; others met for the first time in the studio when
these tracks were recorded. The members of the band hail from such far-flung
locales as the U.K., Cuba, Canada, Israel, Switzerland, Greece, Portugal and
Argentina, as well as Ospina's native Colombia and his adopted home of New York
(he splits his time between the two when not on tour).
"I thought it would be interesting to have so many
different nationalities playing in this band, all bringing their influences to
the music in some way," Ospina says. "It's something that might be
very common in New York, but from a Colombian perspective it's pretty
crazy."
Ospina's homeland is well represented on the album; aside
from one turn by Ospina himself, the piano chair is filled either by Colombia
native Carolina Calvache or by the composer's brother Nicolás Ospina, with whom
he collaborates in a comedy-music duo that's found viral success online. Their
sister Silvia designed the artwork for the album. Acclaimed Colombian singer
Lucia Pulido's heart-wrenching vocals bring the album to a stirring close on
her own "Ver Llover," one of three pieces in Ospina's repertoire
commissioned by Bogotá's Jazz al Parque festival. The composition is based on
the currulao rhythm from the Pacific coast of Colombia, for which Ospina
invited Argentinean drummer Franco Pinna, a master of that tradition, to join
the band.
The soaring wordless vocals on the opening title track are
by the remarkable Portuguese singer Sofia Ribeiro. Ospina has been a key member
of Ribeiro's band for seven years, serving as musical director and producer as
well as pianist for her last two albums. Two other members of that ensemble
also join Ospina for Tramontana: Greek bassist Petros Klampanis, who appears on
"Recuerdos de un Reloj de Pared," and percussionist Marcelo Woloski.
"She's an incredible singer and her music is amazing," Ospina says of
Ribeiro. "Working with her has been one of my most important musical
experiences."
"Todavía No," an Ospina composition based on the
Pasillo rhythm found in Colombia's Andes Mountains, originally appeared in a
small band arrangement on Ospina's 2009 debut, BBB: Barcelona, Bogotá, Boston.
Christopher Lyndon of Radio Open Source called the album, "a landmark. It
stands with authority as a milestone pointing back and forward [and marks] the
'arrival' of Juan Ospina as a young master already having a uniquely valuable
impact on listeners, professional musicians and ambitious artists of all
kinds." David Sumner of All About Jazz hailed BBB as "an absolutely
welcome addition to the jazz landscape."
It was there - after discovering the pianist through one of
the comic videos he made with his brother - that Cuban jazz great Paquito
D'Rivera first heard the song and decided to add it to his own repertoire.
Ospina expanded the tune with D'Rivera in mind, and the legendary saxophonist
contributes a graceful yet fervent soprano solo for the occasion. "It's so
inspiring for someone that has so much experience and has been on the music
scene for more than 50 years is still so thirsty for new sounds," says Ospina,
who seized the opportunity to put down his conductor's baton and take over the
keyboard for one tune. "Paquito has a very strong personal identity that
comes out in every single nuance that he adds to the melody, the small details
or grace notes that add so much to the music."
The simmering tension of "102 Fahrenheit" was born
from the arduous experience of its own composition. Ospina wrote the piece in
an un-air conditioned apartment during a summer heatwave in New York City, with
deadlines looming and technology refusing to cooperate. "It was a very
stressful month," he recalls. "My computer was crashing all the time
it was crazy hot. I couldn't open the windows because so much noise was coming
from the street that I couldn't concentrate, but if I closed them it was like a
sauna. The intensity of the tune came from the stress of having to meet a
deadline and not being able to work in comfort." That personal experience
of extreme weather led him to create a piece that comments on the more global
issue of climate change and the urgently needed (but too widely neglected)
response.
"Recuerdos de un Reloj de Pared," which translates
as "Memories of a Grandfather Clock," was inspired by a timepiece
that has stood watch in the house of the composer's grandmother for decades, a
silent witness to generations of stories. The recording features the expressive
accordion of Magda Giannikou, who also co-produced the album. The two have
worked together since 2005, with Ospina playing in her ensemble Banda Magda.
She, along with guitarist Nadav Remez and drummer Dan Pulgach (both from
Israel), all played the same piece ten years ago at its Berklee premiere.
The recording of the album at New York City's iconic Sear
Sound Studio was filmed by Grammy-winning director Andy LaViolette, who has
produced a series of videos to accompany the release. Far from simple
"music videos," these pieces combine candid interviews with the
composer set against the backdrop of the city, interspersed with key moments
from the studio. The videos reveal a picture of an emerging composer as he
crafts his modern take on big band music, as well as what it takes to pull off
an independent project on such a massive scale."
Juan Andrés Ospina
Currently living in between New York and Bogotá, Colombia,
pianist, composer, arranger and producer Juan Andrés Ospina is one of the most
active and prominent exponents of an outstanding generation of Colombian
musicians. His debut album as a leader, BBB: Barcelona, Bogotá, Boston (Armored
Records, 2009) was named one of the "best jazz albums of the year" by
the prestigious All About Jazz website. In the past several years, Ospina has
produced, arranged and played the piano for Colombian singer Marta Gómez' Este
Instante (2015), which won a Latin Grammy; Portuguese singer Sofia Ribeiro's Mar
Sonoro (2016) and Ar (2012) - which won the "Revelation" prize from
the prestigious French magazine Jazzman; and Portuguese singer Luisa Sobral's
debut CD, The Cherry on my Cake (2011), which went Platinum and garnered two
Golden Globe nominations. He also co-leads the comedy/musical duo
"Inténtalo Carito" with his brother Nicolás Ospina. Together they
composed the famous song "Qué difícil es hablar el español," and
their YouTube Channel has garnered more than 22 million views to date. Ospina
started his musical studies at the Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá), then moved
to Barcelona, Spain, where he continued his classical and jazz studies at the
Escola D'Angel Soler and the Taller de Musics. In 2005 he received a
scholarship to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music, where he
studied with = musicians such as Danilo Pérez, Maria Schneider, Greg Hopkins
and Dave Samuels among many others.
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