Seonaid Aitken Music

Seonaid Aitken is a violinist, vocalist, composer, arranger and broadcaster from Fife, Scotland. As one of the rare few female improvising violinists in the UK specialising in Gypsy Jazz, Seonaid has performed with some of the top musicians in the world in this style such as the Tim Kliphuis Sextet, Sébastian Giniaux, Duved Dunayevsky, Tokyo Django Collective and Jazz fingerstyle virtuoso - former Grappelli guitarist - Martin Taylor MBE. She is also a regular tutor at the Grappelli-Django Camp in The Netherlands and writes for and performs with her new project ‘Seonaid Aitken’s Manouche Nouveau’. Her group Rose Room won ‘Best Band’ twice at the Scottish Jazz Awards and Seonaid was also awarded ‘Best Vocalist’ twice following her highly acclaimed Ella Fitzgerald big band tribute and now performs her ‘Grappelli & Ella’ show across Scotland. The Seonaid Aitken Ensemble has been commissioned twice by the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival and their album ‘Chasing Sakura’ was Longlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award.

Seonaid has played for Burt Bacharach, Michael Buble, Gretchen Peters, Eddi Reader, Disney’s ‘The Lion King,’ Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet orchestras, and has recorded with Deacon Blue, Carol Kidd MBE and Mercury nominees Fergus McCreadie and corto.alto. She has arranged for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC, ITV and the 2026 Netflix TV Series 'Pride and Prejudice'. She now hosts the Scottish Jazz Awards.

“Stupendous gypsy jazz player”
THE SCOTSMAN

“A voice that ranges from crystal clear high notes to a low, silky purr.”
ACOUSTIC MAGAZINE

“Seonaid Aitken’s bright vocals and breezy virtuosity are simply a pleasure to behold”
HERALD SCOTLAND