Emie R Roussel nominated for a JUNO Award!

Ten years have passed since the Emie R Roussel Trio produced their first album. In that time, the band has become an unstoppable force on the Canadian jazz scene, winning the Stingray Rising Stars Award at the 2018 TD Halifax Jazz Festival, the 2015 Félix at l’ADISQ for jazz album of the year (for their third record Quantum) and the 2013-14 Opus prize for jazz album of the year (for their second release, TRANSIT.) Their music has taken them to eleven countries on four continents, including stops in Tokyo, at Jazzahead! in Bremen, Germany, and at the legendary club Duc des Lombards in Paris.

The dawn of the new decade finds the trio energized and inspired, ready to begin a new chapter. United as a single indivisible musical core, they’re ready to share new music inspired by their long journey together. The music on Rythme de Passage, their fifth album, is like a conversation: in turn quiet, agitated, and passionate. It is a testament to the group’s strength of spirit and an important milestone in the band’s collective history.

Whether reflective or with terrific up-tempo numbers, the trio never falters in its knowledge of exactly how each musician will interpret the moment. The writing here is solidly in the modern jazz trio groove with mood swings and melodies showing each member in full involvement. ★★★★   Keith Black – Winnipeg Free Press

The music on Rythme de Passage, the group's fifth album release, displays sharply-defined vision, a distinctive twenty-first century piano trio voice…  ★★★★   Dan McClenaghan – All About Jazz

Winner of the Stingray Rising Stars Award at the 2018 TD Halifax Jazz festival, of the 2015 Félix at l’ADISQ for jazz album of the year for their 3rd album Quantum, and the 2013-14 Opus prize for jazz album of the year for their preceding release, TRANSIT, the Emie R Roussel Trio has experienced a dizzying ascent since 2010, and is now an unstoppable force in the Canadian jazz scene. With Emie R Roussel on piano (Révélation Radio-Canada Jazz 2014-2015), Nicolas Bédard on bass, and Dominic Cloutier on drums, the trio delivers creative and captivating jazz with passion and undeniable chemistry. The trio had the privilege to present their music in eleven countries across four continents in the last few years. The trio's fourth album, Intersections, was released in September 2017 and was nominated for the Felix of the Album of the Year - Jazz at l’ADISQ 2018 and at the Prix Opus 2019. The concert Intersections also received a nomination at Prix Opus 2019 in the category Concert of the Year - Jazz. In April 2019, the Emie R Roussel Trio had the honor of being one of the eight groups outside Europe selected for the "Overseas Night" to present an official showcase within the prestigious festival JAZZAHEAD! 2019 in Bremen, Germany.

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March 15 – 21, Fred Hersch Daily Livestreams Commemorating “The Year That Was"

“The Year That Was” daily at 1 p.m. EST

Monday, March 15 – Sunday, March 21

Iconic pianist/composer Fred Hersch commemorates extraordinary lockdown year with seven days of

streams on Facebook Live

Hersch encourages listeners to contribute to a different non-profit each day

Just over one year ago, in mid-March of 2020, pianist/composer Fred Hersch began posting a “Tune of the Day” at 1 p.m. daily on Facebook Live. After a close friend died of COVID-19 in the first week of lockdown, it was therapeutic for him in dealing with that loss – and he thought he might be able to brighten people’s days. Many thousands of viewers saw the daily streams. After about six weeks, Hersch decided to end the regular streams, just doing them occasionally when the spirit moved him.

That experience prompted his intimate and reflective solo album, Songs From Home, self-recorded in July and released in November 2020 via Palmetto Records. An embrace of nostalgia and warmth, captured in the tranquility of the pianist’s second home in the Pennsylvania woods, the album features a playlist comprised mainly of tunes from the days in the ‘60s and ‘70s before he became aware of jazz: The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, iconic Broadway tunes and a folksong along with some jazz standards and two original pieces. Songs from Home earned acclaim as a “most necessary listen,” (NPR) “a collection of anthems for our era,” (Slate), and “an unpretentious, quietly mirthful album,” (NY Times). “It’s hard not to be awed,” noted DownBeat, while Stereophile called it “masterful, advanced, accessible, modern jazz.” WBGO said simply: "It's like a hug from Fred...it's so beautiful."

Now Hersch returns Monday, March 15 – Sunday, March 21 at 1 p.m. EDT with The Year That Was, seven days of streams on Facebook Live to commemorate this extraordinary year. Each day a new tune will be performed – and each day he will be asking folks who tune in to support a different charity that he has selected for that day. Beneficiary organizations include Feeding America, Jazz Foundation of America, International Rescue Committee, Haitian Alliance for Global Health, the Grammy Foundation’s MusiCares, UNICEF and the ACLU. The repertoire will feature tunes that, to Hersch, have personal resonance with the last twelve months. Composers include The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Alec Wilder, James Taylor and JS Bach.

Fred Hersch

A select member of jazz’s piano pantheon, Fred Hersch is an influential creative force who has shaped the music’s course over more than three decades. A fifteen-time Grammy nominee, Hersch has long set the standard for expressive interpretation and inventive creativity. A revered improviser, composer, educator, bandleader, collaborator and recording artist, Hersch has been proclaimed “the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade” by Vanity Fair, “an elegant force of musical invention” by The L.A. Times, and “a living legend” by The New Yorker. For decades Hersch has been firmly entrenched as one of the most acclaimed and captivating pianists in modern jazz, whether through his exquisite solo performances, as the leader of one of jazz’s era-defining trios, or in eloquent dialogue with his deeply attuned duo partners. His brilliant 2017 memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly, was named one of 2017’s Five Best Memoirs by the Washington Post and The New York Times.

Fred Hersch Website

Cecilie Strange - Blikan (April 16, 2021 April Records)

Cecilie Strange grew up in a musical home and she began playing the saxophone already at age 12. Strange has studied music in the Danish city of Odense with the great jazz saxophonist Hans Ulrik and in New York with top saxophonist Chris Cheek, and her deep and soulful tenor sound has gained international acclaim. So far, she has released two solo albums and her third solo album, 'Blikan', will be released on April Records on April 16th, 2021. Together with guitarist Anna Roemer, she also makes up the ambient electro jazz duo, Kaleiido, who have collaborated with names like Mikkel Hess, Kasper Tranberg, Anders "AC" Christensen og Stine Steendorph. Besides that, Strange has also played in various jazz ensembles and folk groups and even in one pop band.

"Blikan", an Icelandic word derived from the Old Saxon language, means “to shine" or "to appear”. And as its title suggests, 'Blikan' came together almost magically. Recorded at The Village in Copenhagen on June 10 and 11, 2019, the two-day session was the first time Cecilie Strange had ever played with the three artists she intuitively knew were the ideal ensemble to manifest her vision: pianist Peter Rosendal, bassist Thommy Andersson and drummer Jacob Høyer. Their collaboration was so creatively inspired it produced not just one, but two, full-length albums. 'Blue', the tenor saxophonist’s second release as a leader, came out on April Records in May of 2020 to glowing reviews.

'Blikan' brings the session full circle, and is an essential companion piece to 'Blue'. Both herald Strange’s arrival as an exciting new voice in today’s dynamic Copenhagen jazz scene, as both a deeply intuitive tenor player and a visionary composer. Acutely attuned to the natural landscape, in both her native Denmark, and all the Far North countries around it, Strange paints sketches of Scandinavia with an achingly melancholic palette of tonal colors that also radiate with hope and light.

1. Eudaimonia 09:09

2. The Clearing 04:19

3. The Dance # 9 06:13

4. When Sunny Smiles 07:44

5. Wild Flower 06:05

6. Jag vet en dejlig rosa 07:03

7. Arise (CD Bonus track) 05:20

Cecilie Strange: Saxophone

Peter Rosendal: Piano

Thommy Andersson: Bass

Jakob Høyer: Drums

Recorded at The Village Recording, June 10th & 11th, 2019, by Thomas Vang

Mixed by August Wanngren/Oui Music

Mastered by John Fomsgaard at Karmacrew

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Jakob Dinesen / Anders Christensen / Laust Sonne - Blessings (April 9, 2021 April Records)

Saxophone player Jakob "Dino" Dinesen and bass player Anders “AC” Christensen have been household names on the Danish jazz scene since the nineties, where they played together in the now legendary Once Around the Park. Here they are joining up with drummer Laust Sonne.

Laust Sonne is one of the most versatile musicians in Denmark and he has been the drummer in the popular Danish rock band, D-A-D, for over 20 years. He has also played drums in the avant jazz rock outfit, Bugpowder, and has made a career for himself with his own rock band, Dear. He has also recorded two solo albums and in 2007 he received the prestigious Danish music award, Ken Gudman Prisen.

Anders "AC" Christensen has been a member of Paul Motian’s ensemble and has played in Polish jazz legend Tomasz Stańko’s band. In Denmark, he has played with the Hess brothers in Spacelab, for over 25 years. In 2009 he made his only solo album so far, ‘Dear Someone’, featuring Aaron Parks and Paul Motian. “AC” is highly in demand among Danish jazz musicians and he has even played in a lot of rock bands, like Sort Sol and The Raveonettes.

Jakob Dinesen has made a long string of albums in his own name and has received several prizes. He has played with loads of internationally acclaimed jazz musicians, such as Paul Motian, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Eddie Gomez, Ben Street, Tony Allen, Nasheet Waits and Steve Swallow. He has also been a member of the acclaimed Danish jazz groups Hugo Rasmussen Allstarz and Beautiful Day and has played with Danish musicians as distinct as Thomas Blachman, Thomas Helmig and Lars H.U.G..

The three musicians have known each other for many years. In their younger days, they often ended up together, playing late night jams and gigs at parties.

The corona outbreak in the first half of 2020 finally brought the three musicians together again, as mos of their other plans were cancelled because of the virus. As a blessing in disguise, they began to play together again, in the rehearsal room. They found, and created, a space for their thoughts and ideas. A space for listening and playing.

1. Free Eddie 06:43

2. I’ve Told Every Little Star 07:22

3. Anouar 09:11

4. Tyk vals 08:49

5. Sandino 07:47

6. Freedom Jazz Dance 07:48

Jakob Dinesen - Sax

Anders Christensen - Bass

Laust Sonne - Drums

Recorded live at Sommer i Haveselskabet, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 27th, 2020

Sound engineer: Kim Khan

Mastered by John Fomsgaard

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Little North - Finding Seagulls (2021 April Records)

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Adrian Younge's T.A.N. | FILM TRAILER AVAILABLE NOW | Jazz Is Dead & Amazon Music

ADRIAN YOUNGE’S THE AMERICAN NEGRO

T.A.N. – AN AMAZON MUSIC

ORIGINAL FILM BY ADRIAN YOUNGE

SEE DEADLINE'S EXCLUSIVE TRAILER PREMIERE HERE

WRITTEN, DIRECTED, EDITED, SCORED & FILMED BY YOUNGE

AVAILABLE ON MARCH 24TH VIA THE

AMAZON MUSIC APP AND PRIME VIDEO

Companion Film to Younge’s Acclaimed Album

‘The American Negro’ & ‘Invisible Blackness,’

Younge’s Amazon Original Podcast featuring

Conversations with Chuck D, Michael Jai White,

Keyon Harrold, LadyBug Mecca & More

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

“In Adrian Younge’s Ambitious New Project,

James Baldwin Meets Marvin Gaye” – VULTURE / SWITCH ON POP

“...a profound undertaking… This impassioned dissection of modern America

is a challenging work well worth every second” – THE GUARDIAN

Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and former law professor ADRIAN YOUNGE will release his debut short film T.A.N. later this month via the Amazon Music app and Amazon’s Prime Video. A true Renaissance Man, Younge wrote, directed, edited, filmed and composed the score for the film. T.A.N. is a narrative film that sees five fragile souls, confused and in a haze of consciousness and intolerance, enter an eerie dimension. Piece-by-piece, each person realizes their destiny, and the darkness they’ve left behind. “T.A.N. represents the racial friction that exists between Black and White society,” notes Younge. “As a Black American, it’s my way of synthesizing our discarded history with a new vision for survival.” Today, Younge shares the film’s trailer -- watch here

T.A.N. is a companion to Younge’s acclaimed recent album The American Negro: his most ambitious and deeply personal project to-date. The multimedia project sees Younge share an unapologetic critique detailing the systemic and malevolent psychology that afflicts people of color. The American Negro is a powerful, multifaceted statement that reflects perennial injustices and serves to act as a lever of change during a time of mass disillusionment: an album for the people that details the evolution of racism in America.

Younge also recently launched the Amazon Original podcast Invisible Blackness with Adrian Younge to better explain the intricacies of the album’s message. The podcast series analyzes the Black consciousness with new historical parallels to the future and the past. The podcast also includes a series of extended conversations with Black musicians, filmmakers, actors and scholars to reveal, illustrate and make visible the dominant ideologies embedded in America’s culture. To date, featured conversations include the legendary Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, Digable Planets’ LadyBug Mecca, jazz musician Keyon Harrold who discusses his recent run in with “Soho Karen” and, most recently, a discussion with actor Michael Jai White. Listen here

Adrian Younge is a member of The Midnight Hour and has produced for entertainment greats ranging from Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar and Wu-Tang Clan. He’s composed for television shows such as Marvel’s Luke Cage, and films including Black Dynamite. He owns the Linear Labs boutique record label and analog studio, and is co-owner of Jazz Is Dead. When he’s not working on scores for major studios or networks, he’s making albums that speak to his own artistry. Most recently, Younge and his The Midnight Hour bandmate / A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad have teamed up again to compose the music for Queen Latifah’s new CBS show The Equalizer and Eddie Huang’s debut film Boogie.

Adrian Younge | The American Negro

The American Negro (album) | Available everywhere Feb. 26, 2021 via Jazz Is Dead

Invisible Blackness (podcast) | Available exclusively on Amazon Music Feb. 4, 2021

T.A.N. (film) | Available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video & Amazon Music March 24, 2021

Follow Adrian Younge & Jazz Is Dead:

Adrian Younge: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Jazz Is Dead: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp | JazzIsDead.co

Out Friday, March 12: Dan Blake's Da Fé (Sunnyside Records)

Saxophonist/Composer Dan Blake finds hope for a better future through compassionate action on his inspiring new album

Da Fé, due out March 12, 2021 via Sunnyside Records, encourages activism in the fight against

climate catastrophe, poverty and hunger with a spirited ensemble featuring

Carmen Staaf, Leo Genovese, Dmitry Ishenko and Jeff Williams

Livestream release concert Friday, March 26 at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn at www.soapboxgallery.org

"Blake, whose versatility and probing ears have made him a ripe collaborator for both Julian Lage and Anthony Braxton… brings an intelligence and taste for adventure but also a solid swing and tradition-hugging mandate to his work as both player and writer." – Josef Woodard, DownBeat

“Saxophonist Dan Blake is one of those musicians who are always on a quest to expand their musical horizons… As both a player and a composer, Blake demonstrates an intensity coupled with a very fertile and searching mind.” – Budd Kopman, All About Jazz

Pondering the existential crises that face humanity today – global climate catastrophe, poverty, hunger – can be overwhelming, especially when compounded with the more mundane trials we face every day. Social activism, despite its daunting challenges, is fundamentally an act of faith: faith in a better future and in our species’ capacity for positive change. On his inspiring new album, Da Fé, saxophonist and composer Dan Blake pays tribute to the spiritual leaders and political activists who’ve offered him hope while adding his own singular voice to the optimistic chorus of those crying out for solutions.

Due out March 12, 2021 via Sunnyside Records, Da Fé is an outgrowth of Blake’s own activism. A practicing Buddhist since his college years, Blake has served since 2015 on the board of Buddhist Global Relief, an organization dedicated to combatting chronic hunger and malnutrition around the world. He has also organized concerts to benefit other charitable organizations, including Extinction Rebellion, the Poor People’s Campaign and Show Up for Racial Justice. While he’s quick to downplay his own role in favor of those who dedicate their lives to activism, his music follows a socially conscious path blazed by the likes of Max Roach and Alice Coltrane before him.

“Climate catastrophe is an issue that I've been concerned about for a while,” says Blake, who credits moving to Mount Kisco, New York and raising his two young daughters as inspiration. “Moving away from the city provided some perspective and made me much more aware of nature in my day to day life. Becoming a parent was another causal factor in bringing more urgency to my own personal awareness of this issue. As humans, our relationship to nature can be so sympathetic, but then something like the California wildfires reminds us how our collective abuse of the natural world has become incredibly dangerous to our survival as a species.”

Da Fé translates to “of faith,” and stems from the phrase “auto da fé,” which refers to the burning of heretics during the Spanish Inquisition. While Blake changed the term to avoid direct reference to that historical context, he does see a connection in the fires blazing across millions of acres in California. “There's a certain violence to this time that we're in, as we seem to be sacrificing ourselves at the altar of commodities. But there's still a possibility of realizing a better future that we can put our faith in. That's where these activist organizations come in.”

To provide his music with the tension and urgency it required, Blake enlisted a remarkable cross-generational band. He initially recorded with a quartet featuring pianist/keyboardist Carmen Staaf, bassist Dmitry Ishenko, and veteran drummer Jeff Williams. The latter was a member of the pioneering world-jazz fusion band Lookout Farm led by DaveLiebman, one of Blake’s mentors in both music and activism. He then teamed with longtime collaborator Leo Genovese, with whom he worked in Esperanza Spalding’s band, to reimagine the music in post-production via additional piano, synths and multiple saxophone lines.

“I wanted to take full advantage of the studio on this album,” Blake explains. “My model for that is Wayne Shorter's work from the 1980s – his mid-period albums like Atlantis, Phantom Navigator or Joy Ryder, where he interacts with himself playing multiple parts to realize a bigger sonic landscape from the horn. I was envisioning a sax chorus through a reflective, hall of mirrors idea.”

Staaf opens the album solo with the prayer-like, through-composed “Prologue – A New Normal.” Unsettling, static-like electronics ultimately consume the meditative piece, suggesting the threats that lie ahead, especially if we continue to accept increasingly dangerous new normals. The modal “Cry of the East” evokes John Coltrane’s yearning work on soprano sax on a dedication to the plight of the Palestinian people and, as Blake says, “all the unseen, unheard souls whose suffering has been caused by the actions of Western powers and policies.”

The turbulent “Like Fish in Puddles” takes its title from a piece in the Atthakavagga, a collection of Buddhist poems. The piece’s desperation cries out for a shift in perspective; many of us, it suggests, believe we’re swimming in the ocean while we’re simply flapping around in our limited puddles, with limited time and resources to draw upon. Opening with a strident solo by the composer, “Pain” draws on both universal and personal strife, inspired by the recent loss of Blake’s father and grandmother. The dark-hued “The Grifter” hardly needs much explanation, given the looming con-man presence who’s preoccupied our thoughts in recent years.

Blake particularly enjoys exploring vamps with Williams, as they do on “The Cliff,” whose rhythmic complexities feel like striding uncertainly along the edge of a jagged precipice. “Doctor Armchair” is a satirical look at the tendency towards offering unearned “expertise” as a solution to every issue – not strictly medical, though the notion has taken on additional weight in the midst of a contentious pandemic. Genovese’s cosmic synths layer on the hypnotic atmospherics for the title track, before the album ends with the meditative coda “Epilogue: It Heals Itself” – a suggestion not to ignore problems, but to pause a moment in our frantic activities to allow healing to begin.

“I’m very inspired by the ideal of compassionate action,” Blake says. “Activism is very important to my musical creativity, and is the impetus for this album. I believe musicians and artists can play a powerful role in these dangerous and urgent times by awakening a compassionate vibration in others, one that can spur action. I also believe artists like myself have a lot to learn from the dedicated activism and leadership of others who sacrifice so much to do the good work that must be done to wrest power from corrupt politicians and place it into the gentle and loving hands of the people.”

1. Prologue - A New Normal

2. Cry Of The Eas

3. Like Fish In Puddles

4. Pain

5. The Grifter

6. The Cliff

7. Doctor Armchair

8. Da Fé

9. Epilogue - It Heals Itself

Dan Blake - soprano & tenor saxophone

Carmen Staaf - piano & Fender Rhodes

Leo Genovese - Moog, Prophet, Farfisa, Six-Trak, Fender Rhodes & piano

Dmitry Ishenko - acoustic & electric bass

Jeff Williams - drums

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Maria Schneider wins major French Award for 'Data Lords'

Revered composer and orchestra leader Maria Schneider wins

major French Award

 

Le Grand Prix de l’Académie du Jazz

 

Best Record of the Year for double album Data Lords

with the Maria Schneider Orchestra available via ArtistShare

Boundary-defying composer and orchestra leader Maria Schneider has won Le Grand Prix de l’Académie du Jazz for her revelatory double album Data Lords. Inspired by conflicting relationships between the digital and natural worlds, Data Lords (July 2020, ArtistShare) features the world-class Maria Schneider Orchestra.

“I am grateful to l’Académie du Jazz for this tremendous honor,” says Schneider. “To receive this award from this excellent organization in France, a country that is awake to the ravages of big tech companies on our lives and our rights, is of special significance to me. I am grateful to my incredible band who truly make the music what it is. I would like to dedicate this award to pianist Frank Kimbrough, who was such an important part of my band for so many years, and whom we lost suddenly this year.” 

Data Lords – which was made, funded and documented through ArtistShare, the world’s first crowd-funding internet platform – has earned two Grammy nominations and broad critical acclaim:

“Now it's finally here, in the form of a magnificent double album, Data Lords. . . it parses into thematic halves, ‘The Digital World’ and, as an antidote, ‘The Natural World.’ On the whole and in the details, it amounts to the most daring work of Schneider's career, which sets the bar imposingly high. This is music of extravagant mastery, and it comes imbued with a spirit of risk." – Nate Chinen, NPR

“Beyond the dualism in its format, Data Lords is a work of holistic creativity. The music of outrage and critique in the first album has all the emotion and conceptual integrity that the music of melancholy and reverence does in the second. I can’t conceive of anyone else creating this music, unless Delius has been writing with Bowie on the other side.” – David Hajdu, The Nation

“Data Lords is a major piece of work…. The message, the rancour, the sense of injustice are deeply embedded in every moment of the first album. And yet Schneider’s craft and judgment are such that music in the eerie, dystopian world has the marvellous feeling for structure, pacing and often sheer beauty that listeners who know Schneider’s music will be expecting…. The second disc Our Natural World is a complete contrast. It is epic, glorious.” – Sebastian Scotney, TheArtsDesk.com

“Data Lords is a boldly conceptual immersion in a critical duality of modern life…” – David Fricke, JazzTimes cover story

“The prodigiously gifted composer, arranger, and bandleader Maria Schneider has a whole lot on her mind these days, and much of it has made its way into her impressive new double CD, Data Lords.… she exhibits a masterly control of bold and inventive tonal landscapes and subtler orchestral shadings.” – Steve Futterman, The New Yorker

4-stars. “With Data Lords – a steeliness and even bleakness now shares a stage with her familiar pastoral side. . . . The inner tensions behind this compelling session promise a revealing new phase in Schneider's remarkable work.” – John Fordham, The Guardian

Maria Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, imaginative, revelatory, riveting, daring, and beyond categorization. Blurring the lines between genres, her varied commissioners stretch from Jazz at Lincoln Center, to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, to the American Dance Festival, and include collaboration with David Bowie. She is among a small few to receive Grammys in multiple genres, having received the award in jazz and classical, as well as for her work with David Bowie.

With her first recording Evanescence (1994), Schneider began developing her personal way of writing for her 18-member collective made up of many of the finest musicians in jazz today, tailoring her compositions to the uniquely creative voices of the group. They have performed at festivals and concert halls worldwide, and she herself has received numerous commissions and guest-conducting invites, working with over 90 groups in over 30 countries.

Unique funding of projects has become a hallmark for Schneider through the trend-setting company, ArtistShare. And, in 2004, Concert in the Garden became historic as the first recording to win a GRAMMY with Internet-only sales. Even more significantly, it blazed the "crowd-funding" trail as ArtistShare’s first release, and was eventually inducted into the 2019 National Recording Registry.

Schneider’s many honors also include: 14 Grammy nominations, 5 Grammy Awards, numerous Jazz Journalists Association awards, DownBeat and JazzTimes Critics and Readers Poll awards, an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, the University of Minnesota, ASCAP’s esteemed Concert Music Award (2014), the nation's highest honor in jazz, “NEA Jazz Master” (2019) (NEA Jazz Master Speech found here), and election into the 2020 American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A strong voice for music advocacy, Schneider has testified before the US Congressional Subcommittee on Intellectual Property on digital rights, has given commentary on CNN, participated in roundtables for the United States Copyright Office, has been quoted in numerous publications for her views on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Google, digital rights, and music piracy, and has written various white papers and articles on the digital economy as related to music and beyond.  “Musicians have been the canary in the coal mine,” Schneider says. “We were the first to be used and traded for data.” 

Data Lords is available exclusively at Mariaschneider.com.

l’Académie du Jazz (The French Jazz Academy) is the oldest and most respected music awards institution in France. Its successive presidents are well known in the world of arts and music (Jean Cocteau, André Hodeir, Maurice Cullaz, Stéphane Grappelli, Martial Solal, Claude Carrière, and current president François Lacharme). A non-profit association, the Academy is fiercely independent and collects votes from some 60 journalists, photographers, writers and radio/TV producers. Due to Covid, this year’s ceremony turned into a broadcast on Wednesday, March 10 via French radio FIP’s "Club Jazz à FIP” program. Only a few recipients attended and performed due to pandemic restrictions, but the rich history of the Académie du Jazz was discussed and the winners announced. The podcast of the program is available on fip.fr.  Previous recipients of the Grand Prix de l’Académie du Jazz include Brad Mehldau, Joe Lovano, Eddie Daniels & Roger Kellaway, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Christian McBride, among many others.

Maria Schneider Website