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Unraveled, Aubrey Johnson

Aubrey Johnson is a New York-based vocalist, composer, and educator who specializes in jazz, Brazilian, and creative contemporary music with and without words. She holds a Master of Music degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory and will be releasing her debut album, of her own compositions and arrangements, in the fall of 2019. She currently teaches at Berklee College of Music in the Voice Department, and in the Jazz Masters Program at Queens College in New York City. She has also held faculty positions at the New England Conservatory and Montclair State University.

As an undergraduate student Western Michigan University, Aubrey was a member of Gold Company, the university’s world- renowned vocal jazz ensemble, and studied classical and jazz voice. As a college student, Aubrey won two DownBeat Collegiate Student Music Awards for “Best Jazz Vocalist” and “Jazz Vocalist, Outstanding Performance.” She recorded and performed the original compositions of pianist Ron DiSalvio, featuring legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb. Her work with Cobb/DiSalvio can be heard on their 2007 Origin Records release “Essence of Green”, and “Songs For Jazz Legends” (BluJazz, 2015).

In 2011, Aubrey moved to New York City where she currently resides. In New York, she has made appearances at the Blue Note Jazz Club, Kaufman Center, The Kitano, Cornelia St. Café, The Stone, Shapeshifter Lab, the Jazz Gallery, BAM Café, Rockwood Music Hall, Club Bonafide, Smalls, Mezzrow, Le Poisson Rouge, and the National Opera Center, with many different ensembles and artists including Janis Siegel (Manhattan Transfer), Fred Hersch’s Pocket Orchestra, Sara Serpa’s City Fragments, John Zorn’s Mycale Vocal Quartet, Joe Phillips’ Numinous Ensemble, Andrew Rathbun’s Large Ensemble, Rose and the Nightingale, Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, Jason Yeager, Randy Ingram, and with her own band (Tomoko Omura, Michael Sachs, Chris Ziemba, Matt Aronoff, Jeremy Noller). Her performing and teaching has taken her throughout the US and Canada, China, Taiwan, Europe, and South America.

Vocalist, Composer, Improviser and Sonic Adventurer Aubrey Johnson Announces the Release of her Debut Album, Unraveled due out March 20, 2020 On Outside In Music

More than a decade into a creatively charged career, Aubrey Johnson is proud to announce the March 20th release of her debut album, Unraveled. Due out on Outside in MusicUnraveled marks this consummate jazz vocalist’s arrival as a composer, arranger, and bandleader with a captivating vision of her own. On this ten-track collection of original compositions along with newly arranged gems, Johnson is joined by a group of stellar musicians who accompanied her recording journey:  pianist Chris Ziemba, drummer Jeremy Noller, and bassist Matt Aronoff. Adding striking orchestral textures are Tomoko Omura on violin and Michael Sachs on bass clarinet and alto sax. Brazilian jazz musician Vitor Gonçalves adds masterly accordion work on two tracks. Production credit goes to bassist Steve Rodby of the Pat Metheny Group. Although Johnson arranged every piece on the recording, she credits her bandmates — who first collaborated as a group in 2014 — with shaping the music over the course of dozens of gigs, particularly regular performances at NYC’s Cornelia Street Café. Unraveled tells the story of an artist and her band coming together and forging a fresh, distinctive sound unlike that of any other ensemble on the scene.

Episode #216

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