Colombian pianist and composer Juan Ospina’s latest cd “BBB: Barcelona, Bogotá, Boston” is a journey through his experiences of making music and living in these three different cities for the past 10 years. In his compositions, Juan crafts elements of his native Colombian music into a fresh and unique new sound by artfully blending them with traditional jazz elements. Through a sextet of fine young emerging artists in the New York jazz scene, Juan brings to life a set of original compositions and arrangements that already has been praised by personalities such as Maria Schneider and Danilo Pérez.
Shortly after starting his formal musical studies, Juan Andrés Ospina moved to Barcelona (Spain) to study at the prestigious Taller de Musics and Barcelona’s Conservatoire. After 5 years of performing at the most well jazz clubs in Barcelona, and having been chosen by the Taller de Musics to represent the school at the 14th IASJ Annual meeting held in Freiburg (Germany), Juan graduated with honors as a jazz pianist and composer. Moving back to his native country, Juan taught at two music colleges in Bogotá, and established himself as one of the most important jazz musicians in Colombia’s scene.
Receiving a scholarship from Berklee College Of Music, he moved to Boston in September 2005, where studied with Danilo Perez, Maria Schneider, Joanne Brackeen, Joe Lovano, Greg Hopkins and Dave Samuels amongst many others. At Berklee he was recipient of the 2006 “Jazz Performance Award” and the 2007 “Herb Pomeroy Award” for outstanding composition and arrangements, and his original composition “Todavia No” was selected to be included in the CD “Old New School” (Jazz Revelation Records). Juan also worked as an arranger for the 2007 Latin Grammys ceremony; his compositions were performed by the Greg Hopkins Orchestra in a wide number of venues, including the Fairbanks Festival in Alaska and the 2006 IAJE convention held in New York, and his original composition “Tramontana” was chosen by the international acclaimed Finnish UMO Jazz Orchestra to be played at the Helsinki Jazz Festival. He graduated with honors (Summa Cum Laude) with a degree in Jazz Composition and Performance from Berklee College of Music, and he is currently working as a performer, arranger, producer and composer in between Boston and New York City. His first album as a leader “BBB: Barcelona, Bogotá, Boston,” was released in July 2009 in Bogotá (Colombia).
“Juan Ospina’s irresistible new cd BBB: Barcelona, Bogotá, Boston is a landmark. It stands with authority as a milestone pointing back and forward (…) It marks without debt 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.” (Cristopher Lyndon, Radio Open Source)
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