Jazz Articles about Simona Smirnova

About Simona Smirnova

Interview

Simona Smirnova: Cultivating Timelessness

by Matthew Vasiliauskas
March 7, 2023

Earl Hines once said, “I always thought jazz was like the trunk of a tree. After the tree has grown, many branches have spread out. They're all with different leaves and they all look beautiful. But at the end of the season, they fold back up and it's still the tree trunk." For the citizens of Lithuania, the relationship between trees and music has been an integral part of the culture. Throughout its pagan years, ancient Lithuania's polytheistic ...

Album Review

Simona Smirnova: Bird Language

Read "Bird Language" reviewed by Giulia Bianchi

by Giulia Bianchi
April 23, 2022

Simona Smirnova is a Lithuanian-born and New York-based vocalist, composer, and classically trained kanklės (a Lithuanian chordophone folk instrument belonging to the Baltic zither family) virtuoso. After obtaining her BA in jazz vocal performance from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, she moved to the USA to study contemporary writing and production at Berklee College of Music. There is an aura of mystique to Smirnova's Bird Language, a stunning blend of Baltic folklore, jazz, pop, and rock, ...