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About this concert
Indigenous jazz musicians, ensembles, and big bands have their place in the contemporary jazz world as well as in jazz history. There were small ensembles and big bands on reservations across the US in the first half of the Twentieth Century and several Indigenous musicians who ascended to celebrity with jazz as their medium. From time immemorial, songs have been the vessels of stories and lessons for the Indigenous people of the Americas. The goals of the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band are to celebrate and continue that tradition, to compose and perform new music inspired by traditional backgrounds, and to create a community of likeminded peoples from all backgrounds to uplift the next generation of Indigenous jazz musicians.
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Julia Keefe Biography
"A songbird of a jazz vocalist" - The New York Times
“She gives me hope for the future of jazz.” – Judy Carmichael, NPR
“Her voice is of another era. One of the only jazz songbirds in Indian Country.” – Revolutions per Minute
"Native American jazz pioneer... Visionary Keefe continues to expand the jazz spectrum..." - Steve Roby, West Hawaii Today
Julia Keefe (Nez Perce) is an internationally acclaimed Native American jazz vocalist, bandleader, actor, and educator currently based in New York City. Her professional career has spanned nearly two decades, and she has headlined marquee events at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., NMAI-NY, as well as opened for the likes of 20- time GRAMMY Award winner Tony Bennett and 4-time GRAMMY Award winner Esperanza Spalding. Her life’s work is the revival and honoring of the legendary Coeur d’Alene jazz musician Mildred Bailey and is leading the campaign for Bailey’s induction into the Jazz Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center. In addition to rehearsing for an upcoming album, she is currently directing the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, a new project highlighting the history and future of Indigenous people in jazz, and the Mildred Bailey Project will be releasing its first studio recording winter 2023.
Read More“She gives me hope for the future of jazz.” – Judy Carmichael, NPR
“Her voice is of another era. One of the only jazz songbirds in Indian Country.” – Revolutions per Minute
"Native American jazz pioneer... Visionary Keefe continues to expand the jazz spectrum..." - Steve Roby, West Hawaii Today
Julia Keefe (Nez Perce) is an internationally acclaimed Native American jazz vocalist, bandleader, actor, and educator currently based in New York City. Her professional career has spanned nearly two decades, and she has headlined marquee events at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., NMAI-NY, as well as opened for the likes of 20- time GRAMMY Award winner Tony Bennett and 4-time GRAMMY Award winner Esperanza Spalding. Her life’s work is the revival and honoring of the legendary Coeur d’Alene jazz musician Mildred Bailey and is leading the campaign for Bailey’s induction into the Jazz Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center. In addition to rehearsing for an upcoming album, she is currently directing the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, a new project highlighting the history and future of Indigenous people in jazz, and the Mildred Bailey Project will be releasing its first studio recording winter 2023.
Big Band
Blues
Jazz
Native American
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