We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Edwin Vazquez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Edwin below.

Alright, Edwin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The Most Meaningful Projects I worked on,

I’ve been blessed to have had worked on many projects. Projects for theaters,
To name a few, Television performances and interviews on Telemundo, Univision. Recordings that included the signing with major label Cutting Records and workshops where I recorded on Paul Simons “Songs of the Cape Man Album” that included artists like Marc Anthony, Ruben Blades, Danny Rivera, Ednita Nazario and more, Film projects where I performed or was Onset Director for… my latest being the Oscar Eligible Brownsville Bred where songs from my Faith album were used, sung by Hamilton alternate lead Javier Munoz and my music was considered for the Golden Globe and Academy Award and 2026 eligibility Oscar list.
However, no project was more meaningful than the recording of my album “Faith”
Reason being, the Faith album represented everything that has led me one way or another to everything else I’ve accomplished so far.
Like the word Faith itself the Faith album manifested its own creation from the very beginning.
I’ll never forget the first day I decided to embark on the Faith recording journey. The desire to record it was so deep in my Soul but the thought of doing so filled me with fear and trepidation.
The sharing of one’s heart, life and feelings through song is by far more fragile than one might imagine because it leaves one open to having to face one’s own artistic competence but as I ventured into these unknown terrains everything seemed to fall gradually more and more into its place becoming what became an exciting, serendipitous adventure that would puzzle itself together with style and grace.
First it was with me constantly only talking about it where the days became weeks, the weeks months and the months years.
It took a friend artist and songwriter Zookie Ferrer to finally tell me straight out, “Just do it Edwin and stop talking about it.
I had already written many songs, so after Zookie’s little scolding I was more than ready to take the plunge!
In fact, not only was I ready but now I had more than an excuse to go forward. You see after doing several performances for a gentleman Colombian Magazine owner Fernando Merchan who my friend named Soi introduced me too, I was asked by him if I might be interested in performing at the Merkin Concert Hall Lincoln Center. And as you can imagine that was an opportunity I was not going to let go by.’ But I had to get him the recording asap, so I had no time for procrastination.
I was determined in every way to get this promo recording ready for him.

I was to record at least five songs, so I set out looking for studios and was offered an opportunity through a referral by an acquaintance, but when the day arrived to record, he cancelled so I was now in quite a pickle.
My girlfriend at the time Eva Marie Knew about my search for a studio so she kept her eyes open and upon dog walking ran into a makeshift flyer on a street lamp post of a new studio, so she took the number and saved it for me. The studio wasn’t far from where I lived so considering my time limit, I made the call asap.
His name was Ryan Fitch and because it was around 5pm he was quite bothered at thought of my wanting to come over to record the same day. I promised him that it would only take around 30 mins of his time and that I would record each song back to back if necessary. I even offered him more money and told him I could be there in around 20 mins. He finally accepted my offer so I made my way there.
The building looked like a factory building. It consisted of around five floors. Once I was buzzed in I had the option of either taking what looked like a freight elevator or to simply take the stairs up to his apartment on the 3rd floor.
When I got to his floor the hallways were long and resembled what might have been once an office building,
I wrung his bell and walked into what looked like what might’ve been used once upon a time for either industrial or cooperate activities but now made over to resemble a huge studio apartment still in the works.
His name was Ryan Fitch. His studio was called Phase Four Studios. He was a slender young man new in New York from Indiana.
The studio was still in its beginning stages with a wall between us where I could only hear Ryan the engineer through the headphones but based on my prior recording projects with other artists it was evident I could say that the equipment was pretty top notch.
At this point in my life, after recording in places like the Hit Studio in New York with Paul Simon and Cutting Records the major label I was once signed too that I had enough experience to determine what was a good quality recording.
So, we got to it and went from song to song as promised. I sang and played my guitar, even throwing some of my vocal horn improv imitation which he of course had no idea would be included. Once I was done, he walked into the recording space and asked where the horn sounds originated. I smiled and admitted that it was me.
I paid him his due and through in a bit of more money, thanked him, shook his hand and then left. Once I got home, I listened to the recording and was very happy with the results.

From that point on everything just started to fall into place.
That Friday, to my surprise, Ryan called me to say that he’d like to take the recordings we did a step further and actually work on an album with me. From that point on it was studio time with Ryan at least two to three times a week for a whole month. And when the funds began to run out on me Ryan offered to take role as the associate producer of the album.

I then began to call in some of the musician friends I worked with at the time like Don Slovin who played dumbek, bass player Mike Alvarado, Mark Karminsky, lead guitarist Eric Mannella while Ryan and I covered the percussion.
Since we didn’t have all the instrumental elements needed, we made use of whatever we could use.
At some point Ryan even used Mountain Due cans to create the sounds of castanets. The bongos, claves, rhythm and lead guitar were played by me. Ryan even loosened his Snare drum to make it sound like a Latin Timbal.
And we even made use of track errors. The empty space on the Chorus of my song ” Bailarina ” was caused by a sudden stop in the editing that occurred in the mix out of nowhere. I liked it so we kept it and till this day that hook became one of the strongest parts of the song with its compelling repetitive chorus sing along when performed live!

The song ” Has Cambiado “was played by Mark Karminsky on piano. The background decor of the song Faith – music by James Grover, words by me was originally done with flute back when James and I formed the group ” Sublime Groove “. Ella Ezbieta could not record at the time, so I then decided that we should mimic the flute with our voices. You can hear this version in the Sublime Groove recording done back in the day along with other songs we all collaborated on and recorded live at Artie Rodriguez Studios in the Bronx. However Sublime Groove disbanded years after the Sublime Groove promo tracks were recorded which is why I decided to honor my good friend James and sing Faith on my own.

The name of the album “Faith” is also a reflection of what James originally wanted to call the group before calling it Sublime Groove. It was for that reason and the fact that my Father Bolero Artist – Roberto Vazquez passed away that I decided to title the album Faith.
It was to everyone’s surprise that the very first song of the album, the intro into the album begins with a message from my Father on the answering machine asking for me and demonstrating over the phone the effect of a gadget he bought for his guitar which is why the title Faith is also a reflection of what I believe in. The rif my Father played sounded like he was playing from Heaven itself.
Despite Ryans insistence for me not to use the recording on the album due to its poor Quality I didnt budge. The phone message track became one of the strongest expressions on the Faith album for those who knew him and till this day bring people to tears when heard.

In essence the song Faith added an Obscurity to the album with its hauntingly ethereal sound especially since all the other songs I wrote for the Faith Album were so different. James at the time lived in Boston so I took the plunge and made the best attempt to play it on guitar despite my style being so different from James. I sang all the harmonies for Faith and all the other songs on the Faith album.
The song “Sin Ella” Without her was a song from a member of the later version of Sublime Groove named Jairo Ruiz who showed me a very short catchy lick on the guitar consisting of the chords A minor and E major. I then decide that I would record it to honor him adding the D minor and arranging it with other musical arrangements, lyrics and vocals, even creating a dynamic flamenco charging ending for it that gets audiences off their seats today!

Now, Querida “My Dear” was and is a song that lives in til this day embedded in a very tender place in my heart and the hearts of those who witnessed my relationship with Eva Marie who inspired it.
Eva and I were together for almost two decades and the words of this song are inspired by true events. For example the line ( I look at you at night when you are sleeping, I softly speak my heart into your ear, I tell you how you bring to my life meaning, I tell you how I need to have you close my dear, Everything is new , everything is clear, I’m standing by your side and down escape my tears , I can’t believe you’re here , I’m humbly by your side, having you close near, you’re the reason why, Querida…. ) was in fact words I use to whisper into Eva’s ear when she slept at night. I thought by doing this she’d feel my love in her sleep and awaken with her heart filled with the feeling of how much she’s loved. I did this often and she confessed once to me that there were times when she was awake but faked being asleep just so she could enjoy hearing me whisper such words into her ear.
The song Querida is a favorite for many and to this day remain among one of my most requested songs.
In fact, many of the songs I’ve written were written for Eva including the song “Faith”.

Fun facts:
-I wrote Faith with Eva and the concept of Faith itself in mind imagining that if Faith itself was a woman or entity the words would reflect such a devotion and Love especially since Eva’s love for me reflected the act of Faith in me.
I combined both ideologies.

-In total I used 7 songs on the Faith album
Bailarina, Sin Ella, Warixe, Has Cambiado, Querida /My Dear, Faith
and finally, ” Meditacion ” written and sung by my Mother ” Cecilia Vazquez” which could take one a year to finally notice on the album if the credits on the album jacket are not viewed as it plays 30 seconds after the last track of the album Faith.

-To record Meditacion I literally had to look for and find my mother on fifth avenue Brooklyn. I finally found her in a store called Dee&Dee and brought her with me into the studio despite her resistance.
Because I recorded it only with guitar and vocals 0ne could actually hear the sound of the chair in the studio.

-I’m allergic to cats and because Ryan had cats, I’d often have to take allergy pills which resulted in my feeling very groggy. So, when I introduced my Mother in the recording it’s easy to tell that the allergy pill kicked in hard lol.

-The Meditacion recording ended up being another very significant part of the album especially since introducing the album with my Father on the Answering Machine and ending the album with my Mother singing with me in the studio was the best way to make it feel complete.

-The album cover was created by Barry who played percussion, one of the original members of the Sublime Groove band.

-The Photo on the Faith album jacket cover taken with guitar on back by director/photographer Oliver Harboe was taken while I hung off the fire escape ladder of a five-floor building so the view looking down from above was real.

-The performance at The Merkin Concert Hall Center ended up being a complete success.

-Once the “Faith” album was released it followed with a Bailarina Music video by Oliver Harboe that landed me on Telemundo and Univision interviews.

— The Bailarina Music Video by Oliver Harboe was created for me freely out of Faith in my music, the venue and everyone that participated also gave freely of their time..

-The drawing of the dancer used in the Bailarina Music Video was actually sketched by me.

– The song “Faith” has been used for weddings and was selected by Hugh Verrier owner of the “White and Chase Firm”.
Hugh met me at a performance I gave at Best Buy.

-Hugh hired the Late Night Show Choir to sing Faith at the Highline Hotel. I was his special guest.

-Songs from the Faith album were recently selected for the movie “Brownsville Bred” and sung by the Broadway Musical Hamilton Alternate Lead Star “Javier Munoz’. Brownsville Bred was given the “Variety Award for Achievement in Original Music Driven Film.” and was considered for the Golden Globe and Academy Award.

-The Faith Album continues to bless me with wonderful opportunities.

Musically, Edwin Vazquez

Edwin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Me, My Art, Creative Works, inspirations, Focus, Mission, etc.

My name is Edwin Vazquez. I’m a singer, songwriter, guitarist, cajon player, horn imitator, painter and striving actor.
I studied Art education and minored in cartooning at School of Visual Arts in New York City.
I was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Park Slope Brooklyn when it wasn’t as posh as it is now.
One could easily say that my upbringing was very different in comparison to the life I’m presently living. However, in whatever way these challenges might’ve slowed down my progress, dealing with danger in the streets also made me tougher in what unexpectedly is a market that demands a lot of one mentally, physically and spiritually.

The arts surrounded me even before I physically came into the world. My mother Cecilia Vazquez always enjoyed singing and writing songs, so I imagine listening to her beautiful voice even from within her womb. My father “Roberto Vazquez” was a bolero recording artist in Puerto Rico who played with the likes of many stars including Tito Puente, Yomo Toro who he first formed a group with when younger, Bobby Capoz, Marco Antonio Muniz and more. He came to New York with a dream to make money and marry my mom but worked construction for some time instead.
To make ends meet he even continued playing in clubs and taking on recording projects. This meant my being surrounded by rehearsals all throughout my childhood which helped shape me musically.
So, I know without a shadow of a doubt that my ability to sing, write songs, play guitar and harmonize came from listening to those bolero rehearsals.

By the time I was 9 years of age I could hear harmonies and memorize musical arrangements which added to my desire to entertain whether that meant through dancing, singing or playing characters for my father and his friends at the OTB.
If I wasn’t pretending to be some TV character, my father had me dancing to a radio on a picnic table in Prospect Park.

For what it’s worth the first public performance I gave was a random occurrence in a party at around 6 years of age where I attempted to sing a song far beyond my years. I recall another little boy singing La Cucaracha and finding the melody incredibly simplistic lol. Looking back now I think the experience offered me a reality I would have to come to embrace later in my life about sometimes keeping things simple.
Upon learning that I could sing my older brother Roberto Vazquez Jr. who is in my opinion an amazing vocalist and songwriter took me under his wing bringing me to venues all over Queens and Brooklyn exposing me to the stage.
If I wasn’t singing at a venue with my brother. I was singing in a church, school or at home standing on a chair singing into a mirror with brush in hand pretending it was a microphone.
When I became a teenager, I was immediately recognized by an Argentinian acting teacher named Susan Rybin who granted me with a Scholarship. Through her teaching and expertise, I learned a lot about how to present myself on different platforms and stages. I found myself going to auditions for television commercials and theater roles like Rent, De la Guardia and more.
Though terrifying to a kid who only knew the streets Susan was very good at encouraging me.
These experiences helped shape my confidence preparing me for challenges in the future.
I got signed to a major label called Cutting Records which consisted of Freestyle dance music. Though dance music wasn’t really my thing at the time I still went for it. I was really more of a balladeer, a romantic moved by melody, musical composition and lyrics.

As I grew up, I found that the need to express myself, my beliefs and outlooks became very important to me where with time that very belief became something that I’ve become to hold deeply religiously upheld with a responsibility that I believe extends itself even outside of my own personal interests and aspirations.
As an artist I feel called to practice an expression that serves humanity in its awareness attempting to take on responsibly what I believe is a gift given us to help shape our human experience into something that feeds into a more conscious practicing experience for us all.
You see it’s inarguable that songs, compositions, films, books shape our very existence to the extent that if and when we choose to carelessly use art irresponsibly, we do it at a very risky expense to us all.
The power of a story has been practiced going back to our first ancestors. It’s dynamic has played a role in shaping, our society, sciences, history, religions and social practices, constructing our ethics, values and outlooks and even sometimes bringing us together as a society, nation or empire and or even dividing us.
So, as a singer songwriter I believe my role is to write songs that bring us to our emotional, intellectual or spiritual self-experience. It’s no wonder why people find their reflection within a song written by someone outside of themselves despite assuming who they believe themselves to be.
You see my job requires me to feel deeply what one goes through, emotionally and spiritually, to allow myself to feel things even outside of my own personal experience, even things I’ve never experienced before so I could express it through lyric and melody. To do this one has to be very sensitive.
I think it’s fair to say that a song writer has to be something of an empath, someone considered both blessed and cursed. Blessed for feeling deeply a sunset or moon, cursed because an empath has to feel everything without limitations including disappointment, hurt and even despair. I am however convinced that the emotional weight is a result of the negativity we’ve brought into the world due to our lack of misalignment, so my job is to create a reflection of experiences through songwriting. Even inspirations of my own have served as instruments of self-reflection for me when I’ve been humbled enough to notice.
As a songwriter we’re going to healers or destroyers which is why being a songwriter isn’t something to take lightly. It’s a responsibility not to fame or recognition but to the beautiful responsibility that lies behind servitude.
For me recognition has to happen in this order. Success otherwise is insignificant.
A mathematician once said, I could pretty much solve equations that most people would take a lifetime to figure out but if I could help save a Soul what an accomplishment that would be.
I truly believe that our gifts are our lifelines to each other.

So, my mission is to create songs and sing them where the melody speaks behind the content I create. To move hearts into the Lifeline of our human connection, where Love becomes the answer to our dilemmas through the use of dialogue and discussion, not war and division. Songs that celebrate the variety of musical colors our cultures have to offer contributing musically through a fusion of music that helps bring to our attention our common bond as human beings.
To create songs that will be sung like prayers to the human mind, heart and Soul.
The stage is the altar where I believe we as artists are called to sacrifice our hearts through expression and openness. It’s where melody becomes emotion and lyric the search for Truth. It’s the philosophical platform where honesty is human and Truth God. +E

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are so many rewarding aspects about being an artist or creative. Aside from expressing myself, I get to develop a clearer perspective into myself and the overall human experiences that surround me. I get to take a more introspective look into a world filled with colorful details sometimes missed. One might say I even get to be my own psychiatrist. Being an artist undeniably offers me an opportunity to look at the world in a way that admittedly sometimes can be both beautiful and scary. Despite this fact I still get the option to provide what might provoke self-reflection or problem-solving solutions.
So, I personally believe that being an artist requires a certain sensitivity that when embraced calls you to a responsibility that calls to create with more responsibly. As a Singer songwriter, Visual Artist, Guitarist, actor I find that I’m often swimming creatively within melody, colors or story telling, I believe each expression offers a narrative that provoke self reflection when embraced. The idea is to creatively lure the listener or observer in.
I believe that our job is to sometimes explore experiences that the common person might miss or choose to go on their own which is why the listener or observer when hearing a song, reading a book or watching a movie often finds themselves experiencing a story telling familiarity.
The artists job is to allow themselves to experience this familiarity through a vulnerability that the common person otherwise would generally not notice, shun away from or choose to dismiss due to emotional weight.
Our job is to carry this emotional weight by feeling the experience through and turning it into a song or story that offers the listener or observer the opportunity to reflect and hopefully find healing no matter how heavy the subject matter may be. So, our role is to emotionally feel and visit sensitive areas that others often might not even desire to visit.
In essence our responsibility can be seen both as a blessing or a curse depending on what the experience is and how much an artist wants to take on.

I’m here to tell our story through lyric and melody. The lyrics are the story and the melody the emotional expression.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

One of the many stories that illustrate my resilience is the fact that I do not read or write music but yet have had the courage to dive into opportunities that made me have to rely on the ability to hear and trust my talent to intuitively know music well enough to overlook the perspectives that theoretical musicians embrace and sometimes use to intimidate those who don’t.
In fact during my time working with the great Paul Simon I never learned how to read or write despite Pauls Musical Directors attempt to teach us in between our developing of background harmonies that later became part of the “Songs Of The Capman” Broadway Musical album.
In fact it wasnt cause I didnt desire to learn but because I was attending college at the time and was ovewhelmed already with college work.

At first, it was somewhat difficult to ignore and overlook that reading and writing might be necesarry but having such a talented family I refused to allow myself to be held back due to this limit.
In fact, with time, I’ve come to view this so-called limit as a strength and have been told by musicians who do read and write how sometimes reading and writing music has gotten in the way of allowing them to freely express themselves musically.
With time I’ve actually witnessed this experience through numerous amounts of musicians and have witnessed multiple amounts of times how much technique gets in the way of the expression.
I’ve even found myself every now and then telling a musician… “I hear your training, but I don’t hear you”
I once saw the great Paul McCartney say in an interview that he decided somewhere al0ng the way that reading music would probably only impede on his creatvity. The composer of the jazz standard “Misty” pianist Erroll Garner, interestingly enough neither read or wrote sheet music. He composed the entire melody and chords completely by ear.
It’s actually a given fact that many great artists never read or needed to do so, so though I have great respect for the art of reading and writing I don’t really find myself in any rush to learn.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.edwinvazquez.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com//edwinvazquezmusica
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com//edwinvazquezmusica1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwin-vazquez-musica
• Twitter: edwinvazquezmusica
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com//edwinvazquezmusica
• Yelp: edwinvazquezmusica
• Soundcloud: edwinvazquezmusica
• Other: www.reverbnation.com//edwinvazquez

  Edwin Vazquez Musica , a New York based singer-songwriter and guitarist, is recognized for his Award-eligible songwriting, specifically the song “Semilla De Fe” from the film Brownsville Bred. He is noted for his “Gypsy Soul” musical style, earning recognition for potential 2026 Oscar, Academy and Golden Globe consideration and Variety Award for “Achievement in Original Music Driven Film.

Image Credits

-Paul Simon – Songs of the Capeman Album (Edwin Vazquez credited in credits for background vocals)
-Brownsville Bred by Director Elaine Del Valle /Songwriter / Actor/ Onset Music Director Edwin Vazquez
-Variety Award for Achievement in Original Music Driven Film 2026 Brownsville Bred Motion Picture Drama {Edwin Vazquez]
-Faith Album – Edwin Vazquez
-JUSLUVME – nominated for 3 awards at NYLIFF 2025for BEST ACTOR ROM / COM Short – Edwin Vazquez, BEST ACTRESS ROM/COM SHORT – Laneya Wiles, BEST STORY ROM/COM – Mo Zapata
-Photo @ Brownsville Bred Premiere in Puerto Rico
– COVER Semilla De Fe, words and music by Edwin Vazquez, performed by Edwin Vazquez and Featured Artist Raiana Paige
– Photo on Red Carpet with Director Elaine Del Valle and lead actress Nathalia Lares