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Juan Andrés Ospina

Currently living in between New York and Bogotá (Colombia), Juan Andrés Ospina is one of the most active and prominent exponents of a very outstanding generation of Colombian musicians. His wide range of musical projects make him hard to define: he might as well be producing and arranging, conducting his big band, touring as a sideman pianist, composing for film, or creating comedy content for the internet.

His latest album, Juan Andrés Ospina Big Band’s “Tramontana” (2018), features 26 musicians from 10 different countries, and among them is the 14-times Grammy awarded saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera. The album’s realization follows a successful, inventive Kickstarter campaign, which raised 35,000 dollars through the support of 600 backers from all over the world. Recently Juan was invited to conduct and perform his big band music with the legendary WDR Big Band (Cologne, Germany), and the album’s release concert will take place at Dizzy’s (New York) in October 2018.

He recently composed the music for the French/Colombian film “Kairós”, directed by Colombian director Nicolás Buenaventura. The film will be premiered during the Fall 2018.

His debut album as a leader BBB: Barcelona, Bogotá, Boston (Armored Records, 2009) was recorded in Boston with a selected fine group of emergent jazz musicians in New York, and the album was referred by the prestigious All About Jazz magazine as one of the “best jazz albums of the year”.

In the past years, Juan Ospina has produced, arranged and recorded the piano in several international awarded albums. Among them is Colombian singer Marta Gómez’ Este instante (2015), which won a Latin Grammy and received two Latin Grammy nominations; Portuguese singer Sofia Ribeiro’s Ar (2012), which won the “Revelation” prize by the prestigious jazz French magazine Jazzman; and Portuguese singer Luisa Sobral’s debut Cd The Cherry on my Cake (2011) which won a Golden and Platinum award, and reached the top charts in many European countries shortly after its release. In 2014 he wrote an arrangement for Colombian singer Fonseca’s Latin Grammy DVD Fonseca Sinfónico, which won a Latin Grammy for “Best pop vocal album”, and in 2007 he worked as arranger for the Latin Grammys Live Achievement Awards Ceremony.

Juan Ospina has toured widely as musical director of Portuguese singer Sofia Ribeiro’s group, as well as with Marta Gómez, Sylvie Bourban (for whom he arranged her last four albums), Fonseca, and New York based and multi awarded band Banda Magda. He has performed in prestigious theatres such as the Lincoln Center (New York) and the Carnegie Hall (New York), as well as in important jazz festivals in Europe, Latin America and Japan. 14-times Grammy Awarded Paquito D’Rivera Quintet has performed some of his original compositions in important venues such as New York’s Blue Note and the Carnegie Hall, and his Big Band compositions have been performed by the UMO Jazz Orchestra (Finland), the Yukimori Big Band (Japan), the Greg Hopkins Big Band (Boston) and the Bogotá Big Band (Colombia). The music of his album BBB has been requested for educational purposes by the prestigious Berklee College of Music (Boston), the NEC (New England Conservatory) and the UNT (University of North Texas) and the Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia).

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1
Album Review

Juan Andrés Ospina: Tramontana

Read "Tramontana" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Fa la spola tra New York e Bogotà -la sua città natale— Juan Andrés Ospina, leader di questo bel progetto orchestrale che raccoglie 26 musicisti da dieci diversi Paesi. Ospina non è solo bandleader e orchestratore ma pianista, produttore e autore di musiche da film. Il suo percorso formativo e professionale s'è svolto tra Bogotà e Barcellona dove ha portato avanti studi di musica classica e jazz (un diploma di jazz arranger al Teller de Músics della città ...

4
Album Review

Juan Andrés Ospina: Tramontana

Read "Tramontana" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger


With his debut big band release, Tramontana, Colombian composer/bandleader Juan Andres Ospina has created a truly international project, featuring musicians from ten countries as disparate as Greece, Switzerland, Israel, and Columbia. Tramontana is the gale-force wind that lashes Spain's Costa Brava, clearing the skies for sweeping views of the Catalan mountains and sea. This wind inspired music that evokes a similar power, grandeur, and beauty, while offering a satisfying melodic ride from start to finish. Listeners who studiously ...

103
Album Review

Juan Andrés Ospina: BBB (Barcelona Bogota Boston)

Read "BBB (Barcelona Bogota Boston)" reviewed by Lewis J Whittington


The jazz diary of pianist/composer Juan Andrés Ospina's BBB is an elegant, untethered tour of primary musical colors, with inviting light, angles and shadows. “Todavía No" states the theme with percussionist Austin McMahon's airy drums swinging, with tango punctuations. Saxophonists Ben Roseth and actually Matan Chapnizka dominate with flights of jazz fancy, though it is Ospina's piano that keeps the pulse more grounded. The pianist composed all but one of the tracks, but he is very much part of the ...

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“Listeners who studiously avoid all-original CDs need not fear getting mired in any private, self-satisfied noodling; rather, Tramontana features a solid, propulsive coherence, a blend of fire and heart, driven by international rhythms and flair.” Dr. Judith Schlesinger, All About Jazz (USA)

“Juan Andrés Ospina enriches music in incalculable ways. First there is his attractive way with melody, which he enriches with the kind of flirtatious rhythm that makes these melodies impossible to resist falling in love with. Then there is sense of “the delicious”, which, to one’s mind, is that certain something that makes some musicians like “master chefs” who can impart an almost tactile sense to musical harmony; something that makes one not only ‘feel’ their music, but almost “taste” its hidden delights.” Raul Da Gama, World Music Report (USA)

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Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

I have worked as a teacher in three different colleges in Bogotá, Colombia, teaching mainly Jazz Harmony, Ensembles and private piano lessons.

Clinic/Workshop Information

In my clinics I explain how I approach the art of arranging for different ensembles and situations. By decomposing the form and the way to treat each section I go with the students throughout the creative process, sharing with them the different problems and stages of it.

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Tramontana

Self Produced
2018

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Tramontana

From: Tramontana
By Juan Andrés Ospina

Videos

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