To mark Latine Heritage Month (which continues through October 15), a new video has dropped from Jaime Lozano & The Familia’s recent album release Songs By an Immigrant Vol. 3. Watch Max Mendoza Crumm (The Connector) and Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) sing "Because of Yours," featuring music by Lozano and Kitt and lyrics by Lozano and Georgie Castilla, above.
The full release dropped August 22 via Concord Theatricals Recordings. Stream the full album here.
"Sometimes, you just try to imitate the masters, and in failing to do so you find your own voice,” says Lozano in a statement. "It was listening to Tom Kitt, Jason Robert Brown, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stephen Schwartz, and Stephen Sondheim that I found myself—that I found my voice, my sound, my way into telling stories. Tom and I were having lunch one day, and I asked him if he would do me the honor to write a song with me. Without any hesitation he said: 'Yes. What do you want the song to be about?' I told him, 'I want to write a song to honor you and all the writers and composers who have inspired me,' and that’s how this song was born."
With music by musical theatre composer and Jonathan Larson Grant recipient Lozano, the new album features award-winning Latin artists and Broadway stars, including Grammy-winning music producer Trooko; multi-Grammy winner and National Medal of Arts artist-saxophonist Paquito D’ Rivera; Latin Grammy winner Jair Alcalá and his band El Plan; Tony, Grammy, Emmy, and Pulitzer Prize winner Kitt (Next to Normal); Crumm; Tony nominee Lorna Courtney (& Juliet, Heathers); Florencia Cuenca (Real Women Have Curves); Aline Mayagoitia (Real Women Have Curves); Krystina Alabado (Mystic Pizza); Didi Romero (SIX); and more.
The album portrays the first- and second-generation middle class U.S. experience and details the challenges of being an immigrant: finding a new home, learning a new language, dealing with discrimination, pursuing the American Dream, and searching for ways to build bridges instead of walls.
Songs By An Immigrant Vol. 3 features arrangements and orchestrations by Lozano and Jesús Altamira and lyrics by Lozano, Castilla, Reynolds Robledo, Nathan Tysen, David Davila, Neena Beber, Marina Pires, Tommy Newman, and Cuenca. The album is produced by Lozano and Demián Cantú, co-produced by Victoria Kühne and Sean Patrick Flahaven, and executive-produced by Jaime Lozano & The Familia. It was recorded, edited, and mixed by Cantú, and mastered by Oscar Zambrano.