Sobel’s not a diffuse talent…though she might be performing in someone else’s band, playing flute or sax in a jazz combo or switching between guitars in a folk-inclined setting, Sobel’s spirit’s one that’s easy to pick out…it’s all in service of better being able to get what’s in her head out through her instrument—no matter what genre she’s playing.
—Dave Cantor, Pulse Magazine
Sobel’s Performance on Flute, Bass Flute, Sax and Vocals Emphasizes Her Prowess as a Songwriter
On August 30, Gina Sobel, the multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who has been lauded as a “kaleidoscope of musical talent, genres, and pure vibe,” released Redbud, her third release as a solo artist. Joining Gina on the six track EP are some of the Mid-Atlantic’s top young talents in the jazz, funk and hip-hop world.Redbud features Gina on flute, bass flute, sax and vocals. The band includes bassist Brandon Lane, whose work in smooth jazz has resulted in a Billboard #1 single (“Too Tuff,” co-written with guitarist Freddie Fox) and in collaborations with artists such as Walter Beasley, Oli Silk, and Warren Wolf: drummer Joey Antico, one of the DC area’s top drummers, whose work spins the gap between a variety of different musical styles; guitarist Ian Dansey, whose eclectic musicality runs the range from straight ahead jazz to indie rock to neo soul; and Butcher Brown keyboardist DJ Harrison, who also produced Redbud and who has contributed to music from such diverse musicians as Jack White and Kurt Elling. His work with Elling has earned him two Grammy nominations.
“This project started out as a single song. I knew exactly who I wanted to play on it, so I got them together and we went into the studio for a day,” says Gina. “We recorded that song (‘Try Again Tomorrow’) as well as a little jam I had written inspired by a combination of lo-fi vibes and Ellington changes which evolved into ‘Florida Ave.’ The whole experience was better than I could have imagined,” she continues. “When you have the right people in the room working on music you care about, it sort of feels like magic.”
The band went into the studio for two more sessions of two songs each and Gina says that the magic of that first session was mirrored by those as well. “The sessions were at the same time unexpected and more than I had planned. The full EP is those six songs, which vary a bit in style but which hang together in terms of intention and the specific voices of the people who play on them. All of them deal with the confusion and the magic of being human, of trying to truly communicate with other people, and of trying to figure out a little more about yourself. And they are about not taking yourself too seriously and just enjoying a good jam every now and then.”
A rising star jazz flutist, Gina’s Sobel’s improvisation and style are in high demand across a massive range of genres. She has recorded, collaborated, and performed with artists including Emancipator (down-tempo electronica), Rickie Simpkins (bluegrass), Jeff Coffin (jazz), Parachute (pop), Cory Wong of Vulfpeck (funk), Darryl Davis (boogie woogie), John D'Earth (jazz), Flory Jagoda and Susan Gaeta (Sephardic), Dopapod (funk/electronica), Wytold (contemporary chamber music), Time for T (Portuguese tropical pop), and McKinley Dixon (hip hop). She has performed at Red Rocks Amphitheater, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Meow Wolf, The Kennedy Center, and the Richmond Folk Festival. In 2018, she completed both the Strathmore Artist in Residence program and the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship, and in 2021 she was a songwriting winner of the Emergent Seed grant.
With such an incredibly eclectic sensitivity, Gina finds it difficult to land on a narrow definition of her musical style. Jazz folk? Crossover jazz? Rather than rely on easy genre classification, Gina offers her own: “When we speak of folk music, we imagine a bucolic, pre-industrialized world, and the musical influences that come with that. But I don’t think most of the ‘folk’ live in the country anymore. Some do, but many more are in cities, suburban neighborhoods, and medium sized towns. When we speak of folk music, we imagine a bucolic, pre-industrialized world, and the musical influences that came with that. But folk music is really just music of the people, wherever and whoever they are. I write folk music for these folks. It’s got storytelling and tries to understand what it means to be human, and it also is filled with jazz, funk and elements of hip hop. It’s natural and it’s urban. It has pedal steel and synthesizers and flute and drums. It’s my experience of the world as a human, lifted up by the voices and hearts of the amazing musicians who joined me in making it all come to life.”
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