You never know what American original soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom is going to do next. After the success of her Grammy Nominated 2014 all-ballads release Sixteen Sunsets Bloom shifts into another gear showcasing the kinetic energy of her acclaimed trio playing with the musicians that she knows best on Early Americans. It’s her first trio album, sixteenth as leader and sixth recording on the Outline label. Her sound is like no other on the straight horn and she lets it fly on every track. She’s joined by long-time bandmates Mark Helias on bass and drummer Bobby Previte and with over fifty years of shared musical history together the album is sure to be a winner. Bloom’s collaboration with Helias dates back to the mid 70s in New Haven CT and her unique chemistry with Previte has been ongoing since 2000. She brought the group together in summer 2015 to Avatar Studio B in NYC to capture their breathtaking sound in both stereo and surround-sound with renowned audio engineer Jim Anderson. The album features twelve Bloom originals ranging from the rhythmic drive of “Song Patrol” and “Singing the Triangle” to the spare melancholy of “Mind Gray River”. She closes the album with a signature solo rendition of the American songbook classic, Bernstein and Sondheim’s “Somewhere”. World-renowned portrait photographer Brigitte Lacombe contributes a stunning cover image of Bloom. “Playing in threes” has always held a special fascination for jazz artists - it offers the possibility that something can be slightly off balance and that’s just what fires the imagination of players like Bloom, Helias, and Previte. With Early Americans Jane Ira Bloom stands in the vanguard of her generation carving out new territory in the heart of the jazz tradition. Don’t miss this trio of “fearless jazz explorers who share a commitment to beauty & adventure”.
Soaring, poetic, quick silver, spontaneous and instantly identifiable are words used to describe the soprano sound of saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom. She’s been steadfastly developing her singular voice on the straight horn for 35 years creating a body of music that marks her as an American original. She’s a nine-time winner of the Jazz Journalists Association Award for soprano sax, the Downbeat International Critics Poll, and the Charlie Parker Award for Jazz Innovation and has collaborated with such outstanding jazz artists as Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell, Kenny Wheeler, Julian Priester, Mark Dresser, Jerry Granelli, Matt Wilson, Billy Hart and Fred Hersch. Her 2014 all-ballads release Sixteen Sunsets was nominated for a Grammy Award for surround-sound. In addition she’s garnered numerous awards for her creativity including a Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition and the Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz Award for lifetime service to jazz. JIB was the first musician commissioned by the NASA Art Program and was honoured to have an asteroid named in her honour by the International Astronomical Union (asteroid 6083janeirabloom).
A strong visual thinker, Bloom’s affinity for other art forms has both enriched her music and led to collaborations with other innovative artists such as actors Vanessa Redgrave and Joanne Woodward, painter Dan Namingha, cartoonist Jules Feiffer, director John Sayles and legendary dancer/ choreographer Carmen DeLavallade. Her long-standing interest in space exploration and neuroscience has lead to cutting edge recording projects inspired by outer and inner space. Performance venues include Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Dizzy’s Club Jazz @ Lincoln Center, St. John the Divine Cathedral and the Einstein Planetarium in Washington DC. She has composed several works commissioned through the Chamber Music America/ Doris Duke New Jazz Works Program including Chasing Paint, a series of compositions inspired by painter Jackson Pollock, Mental Weather, a suite of neuroscience inspired pieces, and recently Wild Lines, a jazz reimagining of Emily Dickinson’s poetry.
JIB has recorded and produced 16 album projects since 1977 for CBS, Arabesque, ENJA, Pure Audio and Artistshare Records, and founded her own record label (Outline Records). A professor at the New School for Jazz in New York City, she holds degrees from Yale University and the Yale School of Music.
