First Listen: Pablo Ojeda is "Thankful" on funky single

(January 25, 2022) Pablo Ojeda is living proof that anyone, anywhere can be touched by funk. The bassist was born in Chile, and he moved to the United States as a child, growing up in Texas and then in Oregon. He picked up the bass in 1989, and immediately fell in love with funk music after hearing music from the likes of The Godfather of Soul, Stevie Wonder and Parliament. Those are pretty good teacher, and Ojeda proved to be an excellent student.

Pablo and brother Ricardo Ojeda formed the funk band Rubberneck in the early 1990s that became an in-demand act in the Great Northwest. More recently, Ojeda has been performing with Sabroso, a Latin/funk fusion band. The pandemic stopped Ojeda’s work, as it stopped the performance activities of so many artists. The band couldn’t get together and music fans were unable to see live shows. However, that didn’t stop Ojeda, who went into his home studio and recorded a six-track EP titled Gotta Move.

That title reflected Ojeda’s desire to move beyond our isolated, COVID-imposed boundaries that he found himself in when he recorded the project in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, as well as his effort to make music that inspired his fans to move their hips wherever they found themselves. Two years later, Ojeda returns with “Thankful,” a jam that pays homage to bouncing, plucking funk, with creativity on the saxophone courtesy Portland based sax player John Nastos. Those elements along with the jangling, funky guitar riffs give the track the feel of some of the great instrumental funk songs of the 1970s.

And like the Gotta Move EP, there is a message in the music that Ojeda seeks to send through the song’s title. Ojeda wrote “Thankful” in November, so he was influenced by being a spirit of the Holiday season. So, I guess you can say that “Thankful” is a Holiday song that can be played all year long. Check it out here.

By Howard Dukes