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[0:14] Robert Bannon: Welcome to the Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World or over here on the Broadway Podcast Network. Our next guest is somebody if you're a Broadway fan. If you're a Broadway Nista, you know all about him. If you're a theater fan, he has been called the He's got next. Jaime's got next, y'all. He's got music out, he has concerts out, he has a new album that's coming out that I've heard a whole bunch of buzz about on the Broadway and theater world. And a brand new concert, a one-night only concert coming to Sony Hall August 25th. All songs from the highly anticipated new album, Songs by an Immigrant Volume 3. We need his voice more than ever. We need his activism more than ever, and we need his music more than ever in this country.

I'm so excited to welcome back our friend, and I'm so proud of the work that he's doing. Wait till you hear the cast of people he has coming to Sony Hall, y'all. It's gonna blow your mind. Jaime Lozano is back. Welcome back to the show.

[1:04] Jaime Lozano: Hola, hola, thank you, Robert. Thank you for having me. So excited. Congratulations. You have quite the summer.

[1:12] Robert Bannon: A hot summer in all the time.

[1:13] Jaime Lozano: Hot summer ways.

[1:14] Robert Bannon: In always. Well, while people are talking while people are watching us, I want people to know that they can get their tickets before we even get started. They can get their tickets and they can get all of the information for this, the links below us. Go get tickets to the show, get ready to stream the album and all of that. So tell me how long this is what volume volume three.

[1:35] Jaime Lozano: Volume three, we actually started, I think the first volume was released. Maybe it was 2020, maybe 2020. And since then we have like, I mean, you know, all these songs are about our experience as immigrants. I have these amazing Latinx performers from Broadway and beyond from the pop world from the Yes World. Because we realized that we needed to tell our own stories, you know. I love American musical theater. I love what other people have been doing before, and all that has been a great inspiration for me. But I think that it was time to take over to create to build our own tables, bring our own people, and just, you know, just sing about ourselves.

[2:27] Robert Bannon: So, where do you get your inspiration? Is it your story? Is it stories that people tell you? Um, what do we hear? What's the sound and the style like on this album?

[2:37] Jaime Lozano: I always like to say that the thing that most inspires me is my community, my family, people like myself. I mean, with similar backgrounds, but at the same time with so different backgrounds, you know, it's all about community. So yeah, stories come from all around, like some of them are things that have happened to me, things that I want to sing about, but also I mean as an immigrant, I have some privilege because I'm here doing what I love. I'm here like singing stories, writing shows. I came to the U.S. to study. I mean, I have some privilege. I look like white passing, so I have some stories, but other people have different stories than myself, and I like to bring all those stories to life, you know, through my songs.

[3:34] Robert Bannon: Absolutely, and you've been doing this now for quite a minute. Do you ever look back? I know you have goals, I know you have more shows coming, more songs being written, more projects that I'm sure are on the way. But do you look back at your journey? It must be amazing that you have now your show at Sony Hall, the third volume. Your songs have been sung on stages all around the world, all around this country. But the world, how does it feel to look back and think about the past 10 years and your journey?

[4:02] Jaime Lozano: You know, it's funny because a young Jaime Lozano in Mexico. I mean, I never imagined myself living in New York or doing musical theater on Broadway. That was, I mean, Broadway wasn't a word that was in my vocabulary back then. I didn't know what was Broadway, I didn't know what was musical theater when I was a kid. So now being in this amazing and challenging city, and having the opportunity to collaborate with amazing performers from all around the world, from people who are the top of the top in what they do, and now doing this concert at this iconic hall, the Sony Hall. It's a place that I really wanted to play before, and having the opportunity to be there with an amazing cast of mostly Latinx Broadway performers with a huge orchestra.

I mean, we have an 18-piece band, so it's a huge orchestra. I have like 12 Broadway or more, like yeah, like 12 Broadway performers. It's a huge concert, it's a celebration of who we are, it's a celebration of our culture, our music, a celebration of stories. I mean, could it get better? Can it get better than that?

[5:21] Robert Bannon: No, your cast for this show, 18 pieces, and then you have people like all from shows like you know, from Real Women Have Curves to Six to On Your Feet to In the Heights. I mean, you have Robin De Jesús, you have Anna Villafañe, like you have stars, stars, superstars are going to be here. What's it like when you write a song, and then that's your song that you sat down and you played and you wrote and you figured it out, and then you hear some of these voices be able to get up and sing your song and take your song to a different place?

[5:50] Jaime Lozano: I mean, the reality is a song before a singer, a song is nothing but notes and words on a paper, you know. But at the moment that a singer like one of those brings this to life, I mean, it's beyond words. I mean, I always encourage them to make the song theirs, you know. The notes that I put there, the words that I there are just some part of the song. But once they sing with their heart, you know, with their amazing voices, even the song really comes to life, and many of them relate with a song. Sometimes I write a song, and I'm thinking of already in some of them. I mean, I'm having dreams about who is singing the song, and some of those dreams become true, and that is just amazing.

[6:45] Robert Bannon: Absolutely amazing. But everybody follow Jaime while we're talking over on Instagram, and the links are below, and then get your tickets. Sonyhall.com is where tickets are available. You can get your tickets. The show is one night only, August 25th. So Broadway is dark. You can go out there, see you never know who's gonna show up. You never know what you're going to see, and you're gonna have an all-star lineup of people singing Sony Hall.com. It's such a great place to see a show, it's gorgeous inside.

[7:12] Jaime Lozano: Yeah, it's a beautiful venue. And as you say, it's Broadway is dark that day, so that's why I have the privilege to have all these amazing performers. And you never know who's gonna be also in the audience, you know. Like that's what I love about this. I mean, as I said at the beginning of this conversation, everything is about community. And I am so grateful for people like you that is also part of this community, that it's just about lifting each other, being each other's allies, you know, like, and I think that that's the beauty of this community and this industry.

[7:46] Robert Bannon: Well, it's the honor of my days to be able to talk to people like you, and I'm so grateful to be able to spread any word that I can. What's it been like for you to work with Concord Theatrical Records? I know that's your home where this album released. The album's gonna be streaming and it's gonna be available wherever you listen to music. What's it like to work with them to get the word out?

[8:03] Jaime Lozano: Yeah, I mean, talking about allies, it's having the support of this kind of organization, you know, it is what helps us to spread the word, to uplift our voices, to amplify our voices. So it's always great to have amazing organizations with amazing people involved, that they have a very kind and generous heart, and they really love what I'm doing and the story that I'm telling, and having the chance to collaborate with them and they're being able to amplify what we're doing is just amazing. I am so grateful that it's all part of the community, it's just an extended family.

[8:47] Jaime Lozano: And I'm yeah, that's actually it's funny because what you're seeing there, it's just the first cover in my first album was also an illustration, but it's just only myself and the cover. And now obviously we can put anyone everyone in the cover, but that just some of the people who is in the album who has been playing with us. I mean, it's hundreds of people now that have collaborated in all these albums, in all these concerts. It's just amazing to be able to do community and to do music and art together. I love it.

[9:27] Jaime Lozano: And you know what's funny is that 10 years ago when Hamilton came out and they made the line about immigrants get the job done, and then your first album comes out and you talk about your immigrant journey and have all these songs. I would have never imagined that in 2025 this would be the hot topic in politics and in the world today that we are fighting, and it's the scariest time for immigrants, for people, black, brown brothers, sisters, people from all around the world, and Americans, even American citizens here within the city. So, how important is it for you now more than ever to tell these stories?

[10:05] Jaime Lozano: I mean, this is what I can do. I mean, I'm gonna be completely honest with you. I wish that me and my family we could go to all these rallies or marches that have been a few marches about immigrants and all that, and for us it's really hard to show to some of them because to be honest, we are afraid.

[10:30] Jaime Lozano: I mean, it's like because we have a green card, we have some kind of paper, but I mean, now they're not doing distinctions with anyone, and um if we are out there, they can just take us also.

[10:42] Jaime Lozano: I mean, it is so so scary. Uh, and one of the things that I can do is to speak up through my art, through my songs, in my concerts, you know, in my albums. Uh, and that's what we're trying to do, like, like raising our voices using what we love doing and and speaking up through these songs. That some of them, I mean, I'm not gonna say that they speak like exactly about this. It's they speak about different issues, you know, uh, about the immigration immigrant experience, and I'm just like trying to raise our voices and do what we can do as artists that we should talk about what is going on, and art should be a reflection of its time, and that's what we're trying to do. Unfortunately, our very challenging and hard times, and we only can do what we can do, and we are happy to be doing it through music and through songs.

[11:38] Jaime Lozano: But what you do is able to go around the entire world and give hope and inspiration to people no matter where they are. So you don't have to be in New York to listen to this music, you don't have to be at Sony Hall to listen to this music. You can be anywhere around the world, this music will be available and send it and share it to somebody who may need inspiration or see themselves, or to learn about culture and about people's journey.

[11:59] Jaime Lozano: Yeah, and at the end, we are all we are all the same, even that that's at when we're having this concert, and at the end, uh I have the audience like approaching me at the end, and then I have this like people from China, from Germany, from just from all over the world, and they tell me, Oh, you know, my parents they came back in whatever year from Germany, or they came from this place, and that song. I feel like you're telling my story, and you know, it's like when we are being honest with our stories and we speak from the heart, people is gonna relate with those stories. And that's one of the reasons why we do this, because we want people to connect.

[12:41] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[12:41] Jaime Lozano: So anyone, anyone come see the show.

[12:44] Jaime Lozano: Everybody and anybody come see. If you love music and you love storytelling, and you want to hear people sing and a band play, this is the piece.

[12:50] Robert Bannon: So, what Jaime, what do you hope after this vibe? Is there a volume four? Is there going what's next?

[12:56] Jaime Lozano: Definitely is I mean, the third album is not even out yet. I'm already thinking in the next the next volume and next songs and everything. I mean that the beauty about doing this concept. I mean, this this album is called Jaime Lozano and the Familia, and the family is this amazing group of musicians and performers from all over the world, and songs by an immigrant.

[13:24] Jaime Lozano: Uh so it it's a very there's a lot of beauty in in being able to tell a story through songs without necessarily writing a whole musical, you know. A lot of people sometimes they think that songs by an immigrant is like actually like a musical. And that's good because they think that that these songs are connected in some way, but the reality they're just like standalone songs, and there's a lot of stories to sing about.

[13:50] Jaime Lozano: So I hope that eventually we can like record more volumes and and and the most important thing beyond the stories, the most beautiful thing is having the chance to collaborate with people from all over the world, from different music styles, with different uh, you know, different ideas, with uh because at the end, I think uh everything is about the people, about the community. We are writing stories, it's people writing stories for other people to sing, to connect with other people. It's just about the people.

[14:24] Jaime Lozano: So uh that that is the at the end. The songs, I mean, I mean they are out there, and they're gonna be like in in all digital platform. Um, if you come to the concert, you're gonna listen to songs in the concert. But after the concert, the concert is done, and the only thing that is gonna be left is is the people, the people who is by your side, the people you are walking, walking with your path.

[14:50] Jaime Lozano: And I think it's very important to embrace that, to embrace the people around us.

[14:55] Robert Bannon: All of us, absolutely, and the humanity of all of us is all this, you know, we're more alike than we are different. Do you call this a song cycle?

[15:00] Jaime Lozano: Is that what is that what you call it? What do you what do you is it just an album that stands alone? What do you call the project?

[15:08] Jaime Lozano: I mean, I mean, by by now we have three volumes out there. Every every album has like a like at least like 15 between 15 and 20 tracks each album. So we have like like uh 60 songs with this with this title of songs by an immigrant.

[15:27] Jaime Lozano: Um I don't know, is it like song cycle? Um I just had this idea a few a few months ago that uh I should do like like like a um like a some kind of song cycle that you could pick your songs, you know, songs by an immigrant or song cycle, and we have these 60 songs, and depend which song you like more, or you or you connect better, you pick your songs, you know.

[15:31] Jaime Lozano: You pick your songs and create your own song cycle, uh, and you perform it live. I think that that could be a good idea to license in some way. But yeah, it could be it's just stories, just stories that I hope people connect with them. And yeah, eventually this could become a musical theater piece, a song cycle, or it just stays as albums, and these people singing the song, like standalone songs in their cabarets or in their concerts.

[16:21] Jaime Lozano: Uh I mean, that is beauty. Whatever this turns, it is just beautiful.

[16:28] Robert Bannon: Well, I'm so excited that you got it together that it what how what is the process like for you to write a piece, and then from the time you start to write it to the time it's recorded, how long have you been working on some of these songs on this particular volume?

[16:40] Jaime Lozano: I mean, it's it's different. Every song is different.

[16:44] Jaime Lozano: Um for example, there was a there's a few songs, or maybe a song that it was supposed to be in the first album that it was out like five years ago, and it wasn't able to make it back then, and now it's finally like coming to life in this album, you know. And it's because of different reasons, maybe because I couldn't find a singer back then, or because I couldn't finish the track, uh, or because I was just rewriting and rewriting the song until it become like the final version now.

[17:15] Jaime Lozano: Uh also there's some songs that or sometimes I I just sing in a music idea, other songs are be are are born from a hook. Maybe the hook is the first thing that comes to mind, or a lyric idea, or someone bring the story to me. It's every song has a different different different journey.

[17:35] Jaime Lozano: But some songs are as even I have a few songs that they were born. I mean, like I grew up the music back like maybe 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and then I just pre like we grow newly new lyrics for that song because back then was for another it has another purpose, or it was something like what just music.

[17:59] Jaime Lozano: So there's songs like as old as 15 years old or more. But but that's the beauty of this, that you can just you know, just mature. You you are like maturing as you go, and you are bringing things back, and you're finding new people along the way, and you are like complementing each other and and just just creating together.

[18:22] Robert Bannon: I'm so excited for people to check this out. I'm so excited for people to get their tickets and to be a part of all of the incredible work that you've had and all the incredible work that you've had for years, years now, years.

[18:33] Robert Bannon: Uh, Monday, August 25th at New York Sony Hall is where the show is going to be, and then the album, the album comes out what the 22nd.

[18:41] Jaime Lozano: Yes, yeah, just a few days before the concert.

[18:43] Jaime Lozano: The Friday before the concert.

[18:44] Robert Bannon: So Friday the 22nd, you could stream that you can know all the words to the songs by the time you go to the show on Monday, put it on repeat and get ready for the concert.

[18:52] Jaime Lozano: You have that weekend to practice, yeah.

[18:54] Jaime Lozano: You got the whole weekend.

[18:55] Robert Bannon: What do you wish people around the world and especially in this country understood about the immigrant journey that they don't get? What do you wish we understood?

[19:01] Jaime Lozano: People who are born here or people who are trying to listen and understand. What do you wish that we understood about the humanity of people who come to this country as immigrants?

[19:11] Jaime Lozano: Uh I mean, it's not that hard. You you just say that humanity that you it's just that we are all human beings, um, we are different, but we are the same, and we all complement each other.

[19:23] Jaime Lozano: I think that that the beauty of just being different and being able to live together, to learn from each other. Um it's just about humanity.

[19:32] Jaime Lozano: It's not harder than that. It's not it's not as complicated.

[19:37] Robert Bannon: It doesn't make sense to me.

[19:38] Jaime Lozano: It's a very simple, easy concept to me, too. We're all just people trying to live freely and provide for our family and to be a part uh of living our lives.

[19:48] Jaime Lozano: And you you do that so well as show the humanity and the service uh that you do on when you write this music and put it out that shows this to this community and to the world.

[19:57] Robert Bannon: So thank you for what you do. You're such he's brilliant, people. His songwriting is brilliant, brilliant.

[20:03] Robert Bannon: And you're gonna see some amazingly brilliant singers tear down the house uh when you see this in concert. Congratulations.

[20:09] Jaime Lozano: Thank you so much for being here.

[20:10] Robert Bannon: We love your work. We can't wait for I'm ready for volume four.

[20:13] Jaime Lozano: Yeah, let's let's do it.

[20:16] Jaime Lozano: Let's do many more volumes.

[20:18] Jaime Lozano: Many more. This is only the beginning.

[20:20] Robert Bannon: Everybody click the links below, get your tickets, stream the album, and um stay tuned.

[20:24] Robert Bannon: Make sure you're following so that you can see all the work that's to come.

[20:26] Jaime Lozano: Thank you so much, friend, for being here.

[20:28] Jaime Lozano: I'm so grateful to spend time with you.

[20:29] Jaime Lozano: My pleasure.

[20:30] Jaime Lozano: Thank you for having me.

[20:31] Jaime Lozano: See you soon.

[20:31] Jaime Lozano: See you at the concert.