– Preston Frazier

      Jaime, Nice to meet you. I’m a fan of your band, Superfonico. This album is your first solo album. Tell us how ‘Vessels’ came about.

– Jaime Ospina

 I’ve been in love with music, which has roots in Africa, for as long as I’ve loved music.  Regardless of whether you call it funk, jazz, hip hop, rock, R&B, or soul, I’m all for whatever has rhythm, groove, and unconventional instruments. So that’s the way I’ve been nurturing my musical self. A lot of this music has been simmering in my brain. Sooner or later, melodies start coming out, and so through the years, I’ve been collecting these melodies, and I feel like I could have hundreds. Some of the melodies became part of my repertoire  I play with Superfonicos. ‘The Vessel’ contains more relaxed melodies. Superfonicos is full on party;  it’s like club music. This is more like a lounge. Some of these melodies I  actually brought to Superfonicos and they didn’t resonate much just because Superfonicos has its own vibe. I also applied for and won a grant, which assisted me in getting the album completed. 

       I put together these ten songs, and in the eight years that I’ve been in Austin, I’ve met amazing musicians and human beings. It was an opportunity to put together all the people that I love, respect, and admire around my melodies, and that’s how the album came out.

– Preston Frazier  

 It’s a really eclectic but star-studded cast of characters that can help you flesh out the songs, and it was produced by Beto Martinez, who is from Grupo Fantasma. You mentioned that you had an opportunity to record ‘The Vessel’ after you obtained a grant. My understanding is that it was recorded in a very short time at Leche House Studios in Austin. Is that correct?

– Jaime Ospina

Yes, we recorded it in a week.

 – Preston Frazier

How did you organize the process as the producer?

 – Jaime Ospina

We didn’t have  months to make a record. Everybody’s over-scheduled. Everybody is overworked. It was a matter of finding the right window, having everyone together, and doing it. I scheduled a couple of rehearsals, a couple of weeks before, and we went through the songs.  ‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davis is one of my favorite records, and I love the story that they didn’t even rehearse. They just got together and played based on basic tune sketches. Sometimes, there is only a scale to work with, which gives a lot of freedom to create. I’m a massive fan of jazz. I didn’t want a super overproduced thing; I just wanted everybody on the same page, breathing the same air, feeling the same vibrations, and everything. I wanted ‘The Vessel’ to feel like organic, human, warm, and deep.

Preston Frazier

How did you guide the band through the compositions? 

Jaime Ospina

I had some demos because there were two particular things. The melodies were peculiar, and I created folders with demos, basically with melodies and rhythms. I had some chords here and there, but not that much.  I just shared that folder with all the people to understand the general idea of how it should sound. When we went to those rehearsals, we made decisions about the structure of the rehearsals. The seed was really rhythms and melodies. Then in those rehearsals, we’d figure out song structures. And then I recorded the rehearsals. I sent the recordings of the rehearsals, and then we recorded.

– Preston Frazier 

Your primary instrument for melody and solos was the gaita?

– Jaime Ospina

It’s Colombian. One song features a Colombian gaita, a long indigenous instrument. I play it as a hybrid of the Colombian mouthpiece and the European body. I also play electric bass on three songs. 

– Preston Frazier 

Let’s talk about the songs.  The first song is “ El Llamado/The Calling”. 

– Jaime Ospina

The song centers around the moment when you really open yourself to fate or epiphany, and then life gives you a clear message about your purpose.

So that’s what the calling is all about. This song is the only one with a gaita.

 – Preston Frazier (prestonmfrazier@gmail.com)

There’s a jazzy piano part as well. It’s a beautiful way to start an album.

If I can jump to the second song, “ El Viento.”

– Jaime Ospina

“The Wind”. This is one of those melodies that came to me probably 20 years ago. I captured it on my phone. The song is like a lullaby. It’s naive. We built the whole song around an improvisation; it’s a collective improvisation. We were all on the same page and decided to take these five notes of the pentatonic scale, and then change; don’t stay on the same riff, like play.  I don’t want something choreographed. I just wanted us to listen to what’s happening and respond and create the whole soundscape out of them.

 – Preston Frazier 

How about the title track, “The Vessel”?

 – Jaime Ospina

This is such a special song for me. I’ve always thought that African culture is an excellent, beautiful vessel that life has been building for thousands of years. Everything started in Africa, and it’s like an old abuela, like a grandma, building that vessel. She’s creating through the years. Europeans, because of their ignorance, arrogance, and stupidity, brought that vessel to America and then smashed it into like 1,000 pieces pretty much. Each of those little pieces landed on different parts of America. Those little pieces turned into a seed. That blend between Native American and African was all over. That created a new form of African American music, once again, understanding America as a continent. All of those expressions of the African diaspora start creating a dialogue. Black Jazz musicians meet Brazilians, and jazz musicians meet Cubans, and then, you know, Colombia migrates to the States. Vocals are by Kalu James, a Nigerian friend of Emily Bazsez and Kate Roberson. The ladies also wrote the lyrics. 

      The next song, “El Dune/The Goblin,” is basically my love letter to a good friend who passed away in 2014. He was an amazing musician. I always write music for my friends who pass. He passed in 2012, and it’s one of those songs that has been sleeping in my computer for years.

– Preston Frazier 

That’s beautiful. How about “Amanaciendo/Lovebirthing”?

 – Jaime Ospina

“Amanaciendo/Lovebirthing”is about coming to life. The song is a perfect blend of Colombian cumbia and Jamaican reggae. The wind instrument is the güota. The tenor sax appears in the chorus. It features Joe Woolard from the group Hard Proof. 

– Preston Frazier 

I’m going to jump to “Abandoned.” 

-Jaime Ospina

Abandoned” is West Africa all the way. It’s funny because the African rhythm that is this music is based on a West African rhythm. I changed the word and called it “Abandoned.” The song is about acceptance when you surrender and let life lead you.

  – Preston Frazier 

The rhythm is West Africa all the way. There are sprinkles of acoustic piano, synthesizers, and a superb acoustic piano solo.

How about the song, “El Closet/The Closet”?

Jaime Ospina

This is a song I wrote for someone close to my heart, who was trapped in the closet for a long time. It’s my invitation to all the people who are in the closet just to come out. It inspires them to get the courage to come out and reaffirm that their loved ones will love and respect them. That closet can have a reference to homosexuality, but there are so many other closets apart from all of those things that we hide from the outer world because we are ashamed of, that we don’t want to show the world. This is the only one where I’m singing.

– Preston Frazier 

      How about “Malian Mood”?

– Jaime Ospina

“Malian Mood”, it’s basically a tune mode using the pentatonic mode in Malian music, a very specific set of notes. 

– Preston Frazier 

It’s also very jazzy. That brings us to the final song on the album, “A Dios/To God.”

– Jaime Ospina

I just broke the word into A Dios, which translates ‘to God,’ and since it’s the last song on the album, it’s a play on ‘goodbye’ in Spanish, Adios.

– Preston Frazier (prestonmfrazier@gmail.com)

It’s wonderful. It almost has a touch of theremin at the end of the song.

– Jaime Ospina

It’s actually Peter Stopschinski from Austin playing synth. 

– Preston Frazier 

It is an excellent album. More remarkable is that it was recorded live in just a few days with all the musicians in one room. What’s next for you? 

Jaime Ospina

      For the foreseeable future, we’re just going to be a local band with no major touring plans. We are thinking of some house concerts to promote the album. 

– Preston Frazier 

       What are your five favorite albums? 

 – Jaime Ospina

    Kind Of Blue – Miles Davis, Exile on Main Street – Rolling Stones, BLOQUE DE BUSQUEDA, Introducing Ruben Gonzalez,      Gaita Negra – Paito y los gaiteros de Punta Brava”

– Preston Frazier 

I also look forward to a physical release, possibly a vinyl release, because I think that would be wonderful for music.

– Jaime Ospina

I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.