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Maria Grand

María Grand is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and vocalist. She moved to New York City in 2011. She has since become an important member of the city’s creative music scene, performing extensively in projects led by or including musicians such as Nicole Mitchell, Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn, Mary Halvorson, Jen Shyu, Aaron Parks, Fay Victor, Joel Ross, etc.

María writes and performs her original compositions with her ensemble, DiaTribe; her debut EP “TetraWind” was picked as “one of the 2017’s best debuts” by the NYC Jazz Record and her full-length album Magdalena was praised by major publications such as the New York Times, Downbeat, JazzTimes, Billboard, JazzIz, and others.. The New York Times calls her “an engrossing young tenor saxophonist with a zesty attack and a solid tonal range”, while Vijay Iyer says she is “a fantastic young saxophonist, virtuosic, conceptually daring, with a lush tone, a powerful vision, and a deepening emotional resonance.”

She is a recipient of the 2017 Jazz Gallery Residency Commission, the 2018 Roulette Jerome Foundation Commission, and the 2019 Roulette Residency. She was nominated for the Jazz Journalist’s Association Up-And-Coming Musician of the Year 2018 and named the 2018 Newcomer Musician for the El Intruso 11th Annual Internation Critics Poll. As an activist in the performing arts, María is a founding member of anti-discrimination group, the We Have Voice Collective. María performs regularly with her own ensemble; she is also a member of Joel Ross’ Parables, has toured with Antoine Roney, as well as with RAJAS, led by Carnatic musician Rajna Swaminathan, and joined Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl in 2019.

She has toured Europe, the United States, and South America, playing in venues and festivals such as the Village Vanguard in New York, La Villette Jazz Festival in Paris, Saafelden Jazz Festival in Austria, the Half Note Club in Athens, Millennium Park in Chicago, Roulette in Brooklyn, the Blue Whale in Los Angeles, the Northsea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Porgy and Bess (Austria), Bird's Eyes (CH), IloJazz Festival in Guadeloupe, Millennium Park in Chicago, etc.

Tags

6
Album Review

Grand/Nebbia/Sánchez/Mendenhall/Fernández: Altered Visions

Read "Altered Visions" reviewed by Mark Corroto


In July 1967, The Beatles released the single “All You Need Is Love," with “Baby, You're a Rich Man" on the flip side. It's not that the quintet performing “Wild Marks," the 33-minute track comprising the entirety of Altered Visions, is covering that Lennon-McCartney anthem. But the music presented here embodies the spirit of the idea that love is all you need. Altered Visions is the inaugural release from Lilailia Records, a label founded by three artists: saxophonists ...

4
Album Review

Yaron Herman: Radio Paradise

Read "Radio Paradise" reviewed by Anastasia Bogomolets


"When I started working on this album, the first thing that came to my mind was melody. I have been writing a lot over the last few years, mostly in my notebooks, for myself. On the road or at home, anything from long lines to short fragments. With time, (and hard work) these “motifs" started to take shape and turn into 'songs,'" Yaron Herman shares about his backstage process. Even though there are no human vocals on the ...

12
Album Review

Joel Ross: The Parable Of The Poet

Read "The Parable Of The Poet" reviewed by Chris May


The story of jazz is part musical and part social, the two strands interacting to shape, on one hand, the sound we hear and, on the other, the demographic who make it and constitute its audience. Viewed from London, the semiology surrounding New York-based vibraphonist Joel Ross' octet, heard on his third Blue Note album, The Parable Of The Poet, tells a social story as much as it does a musical one. The octet's optics (check the ...

9
Radio & Podcasts

Maria Grand, Michel Portal, Anthony Joseph, J&F Band & Other New Releases

Read "Maria Grand, Michel Portal, Anthony Joseph, J&F Band & Other New Releases" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


A playlist replete with music that hits you hard and deep regardless of the volume at which it was recorded—ranging from a compelling album marking the 85th birthday of Michel Portal to the new concept album by Maria Grand [pictured], and a whole bunch of genre-defying projects to keep your spirits high! Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 The Gangsters “Le Funk" The Gangsters (Self-released) 0:16 Host ...

7
Album Review

Maria Grand: Reciprocity

Read "Reciprocity" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


In a mere decade composer and saxophonist Maria Grand established herself as a refreshingly singular voice on the creative music scene. Both as a side-woman and a leader, Grand has matured into an expressive artist with a fluid style and a warm tone. Her second full-length release, the enchanting Reciprocity, well demonstrates Grand's talents in a sparse trio setting. Inspired by motherhood, the recording brims with an exalted joy. “Creation, Ladder of Swords" has a deep spiritual aura ...

1
Album Review

Maria Grand: Reciprocity

Read "Reciprocity" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


«Il più grande onore che ho avuto in questa vita è quello di essere madre. Questo è per mio figlio. Ho scritto e registrato questa musica mentre lui cresceva nel mio corpo». Donald Winnicott, il grande psicoanalista britannico, evidenziava che il bambino nasce già nella mente della madre e avrebbe apprezzato le parole d'amore di Maria Grand, scritte a corredo del suo nuovo disco. Ciò che in psicologia si definisce maternità interiore è quindi centrale in Reciprocity, ...

7
Album Review

Mary Halvorson's Code Girl: Artlessly Falling

Read "Artlessly Falling" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Guitarist Mary Halvorson has displayed her playing and composing talents in a number of settings, but this second release by her song-based band, Code Girl, is one of the most focused and intense things she has ever done. Halvorson and her quintet constructed music around eight of her own poems, each written in a specific poetic form. The results are fluid and improvisational art songs, in the manner of complex but catchy British art rock groups of the ...

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

In Trialogue

Self Produced
2024

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Altered Visions

Lilailia Records
2024

buy

The Parable Of The...

Blue Note Records
2022

buy

Reciprocity

Biophilia Records
2021

buy

Artlessly Falling

Firehouse 12 Records
2020

buy

Walls and Roses

From: Artlessly Falling
By Maria Grand

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