Results for "Women in Jazz"

Tara Davidson

Born: 1979

Tara Davidson is a JUNO Award-winning alto and soprano saxophonist who has performed around the world at such prestigious venues as New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the acclaimed North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, the JZ Jazz Club in Shanghai, China, and The Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C.

As a bandleader, Davidson has produced seven recordings since 2004 and performed on approximately forty recordings as a side musician. Five of her seven recordings as a leader or co-leader (Carn Davidson 9) have been nominated by the JUNO Awards for “Jazz Album of the Year”. Davidson has been associated with seven additional JUNO nominations for her work as a side musician with Ernesto Cervini's "Joy" project, Andrew Downing’s Otterville, Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop (x2), the Mike Murley Septet, CBC Records’ “Jazz Legends Live” project, and Jens Lindemann’s Order of Canada Band (Yamaha Big Band member). In 2020, Davidson won a JUNO Award for Jazz Album of the Year: Group as a member of Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop.

Erica von Kleist

Born: March 9, 1982

Multi-instrumentalist and comedian Erica von Kleist has led many lives as a musician and producer, leading the charge as woodwind specialist, pianist, writer, and educator. After receiving the first jazz bachelor’s degree in the history of the Juilliard School, Erica went on to tour and record with Sean Jones, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, spent time on Broadway in the pits of The Addams Family, Chorusline and Gypsy, and recorded on five Grammy-Nominated recordings. In 2012 Erica relocated from NYC to the big sky state of Montana where she started several business initiatives, penned a music theory textbook, and also, well, found her funny bone. During the #MeToo movement, Erica reminisced on her experiences as the only female in countless professional situations in jazz, and began writing songs about the struggles that women face. From mansplaining to manspreading, Erica’s lyrics began to encompass her history as a female in a male-dominated world which eventually snowballed into her side-splitting jazz comedy show she affectionately titled “BOOBS!” In addition to her solo show, she also wrote and produced a musical entitled “Sorry! A New Musical” which debuted as a reading at Alpine Theatre Project in 2021. During Covid Erica joined forces with several co-writers to pen the musical theater film “Your Musical is Cancelled. The Musical!” featuring Broadway luminaries both on screen and in the orchestra. The film went on to win “Best Feature” at the SoCal Film Awards and “Best Comedy” at the Toronto Alternative Film Festival, and was an official selection for the New York Independent Film Festival. Is fresh off the debut of her jazz comedy project and will be releasing several singles from “BOOBS! With Erica von Kleist and the All-Male Jazz Ensemble” in 2024.

Ines Velasco

Inés Velasco is a Brooklyn based composer, arranger and drummer born in Guadalajara, México. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music with a dual degree in Jazz Composition and Performance.

Ms. Velasco’s recent work includes compositions for the National Jazz Orchestra of México, string arrangements for the NY Philharmonic’s ‘Bandwagon’ series with vocalist Juana Luna, as well as Alina Engirbayan’s CD ‘We Are’ (GroundUP, 2018), orchestration/transcription work including Avenged Sevenfold’s last studio album ‘Life Is But a Dream (Warner, 2023), and for Snarky Puppy/Metropole Orkest’s performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2018. She was chosen to participate in the 2014 Metropole Orkest’s ‘Arranger’s Workshop’, under the tutelage of Vince Mendoza, where she arranged for jazz vocalist Gregory Porter. 

Olivia Hughart

Olivia Hughart is a jazz saxophonist, woodwind doubler, composer, advocate, and a recent graduate of New York University, with a major in Jazz Studies and a minor in Public Policy and Management. She is a gigging and recording musician with bands in New York City, Philadelphia, and beyond. Hughart is a member of the NYChillharmonic, the Grace Fox Big Band, and the Andrew Neu Big Band, has subbed for Triad Brass, New Heights Brass Band, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, and is frequently called for off-Broadway productions. Hughart has attracted the attention of the press from various publications including Philly Magazine, NPR Live Sessions, WRTI, NYU News, Cool Jazz Radio, Shoutout LA, Voyage LA, and various podcasts. Hughart is a Presser Scholar, 2023 JEN Mary Jo Papich Women in Jazz Scholarship winner, 2020 Bruce Montgomery Foundation Springboard Grant Winner, and 2020 Pennsylvania Project Stream Grant winner. 

Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra

Active since: January 1, 2000

The Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra (SWOJO) features many of the finest female jazz artists in the region. Showcasing high intensity jazz, tight harmonies, and lush dynamic sounds, the band performs with a fresh energy stemming from seven years of thrilling audiences on two continents. SWOJO has come a long way in a short time. Since forming in 2000, the band has performed at clubs, jazz festivals, and concert halls in North and South America, released a critically acclaimed CD (Dreamcatcher), and was nominated for an Earshot Golden Ear award in 2006! SWOJO has appeared with a number of distinguished jazz artists including Ingrid Jensen, Christine Jensen, Grace Kelly, Don Lanphere, Mimi Fox, Curtis Stigers, Susan Pascal, Sue Orfield, Greta Matassa, Hazel Leach, Jill Townsend, Sherrie Maricle, and Sheryl Bailey

Laura Orzehoski

Wendy Jones

Born: June

Wendy is a jazz vocalist, recording artist, songwriter and arranger who is often praised for her approachable and accessible presence...both onstage and off. She consistently receives accolades for her authentic and honest renditions of jazz standards as well as her ability to transport an audience with her musical storytelling. She is drawn to music that is beautiful, somewhat nostalgic, but also though-provoking. 

 As a professional vocalist, Wendy has appeared on stages from NYC to Chicago to Tokyo and has performed with artists such as NEA Jazz Master Jamey Aebersold, legendary jazz guitarist Howard Alden, jazz violinist Christian Howes, Crystal Gale and has sung backup for the alternative hip hop group Deltron 3030.  She has appeared at Club Bonafide in NYC, the Jazz Arts Initiative in Charlotte, the The Mauldin Blues and Jazz Festival, Mountain Oasis Music Festival, the Spartanburg Jazz Festival, Our World Festival, and the Django Reinhardt Festival in Asheville, NC.

Tiptons Saxophone Quartet & Drums

The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet & Drums's 15th album “Live in Portland” is out now on Sowiesound Records, Austria for streaming, and on CD and LP! This high-voltage album captures this intrepid all-women sax quartet’s energy, playful interplay and exceptional musicianship experienced during their sold-out concert at Jack London Revue in Portland, Oregon in March 2025. Horn lines surge and interlock, grooves snap into focus, and their potent improvisations unfold with grace.  This ten-song album distills the band’s signature “world soul” sound, a genre-fluid blend of jazz, funk, folk traditions, Balkan and Middle Eastern influences, and rhythm-forward chamber music. Live In Portland represents the Tiptons Sax Quartet & Drums doing what they do best: transforming an empty room into a beautiful haven of community when they play.

Laura Klein

Mary Louise Knutson

Born: April 19

Minneapolis-based pianist and composer, Mary Louise Knutson, has been called "one of the most exciting and innovative artists to happen to jazz piano in quite some time." Her warm, inviting tone, broad range of emotional expression, and distinctive compositions have brought her much recognition on the national music scene. Knutson's long-awaited new jazz trio CD, In the Bubble, ranked in JazzWeek's Top 10 and remained on the chart for 19 weeks straight. Six standards and four originals - which range from a swinging Oscar Peterson Trio-style "It Could Happen to You” to a smooth jazz version of “You Don’t Know What Love Is” to a Keith Jarrett style "You Are My Sunshine" - complete this highly accessible mainstream-to-modern collection.