Bria Skonberg Quintet

“If Louis Armstrong and Doris Day could somehow be the same person, they’d be Bria Skonberg,” writes a reviewer for The Wall Street Journal. “With her outstandingly Satchel-mouthed trumpet solos, charismatic singing, and sunshine personality, [she] continues to shine a light on the New Hot Jazz movement … .”

A native of British Columbia and a New York City resident since 2010, Skonberg earned a Jazz Journalists Association nomination for Up and Coming Jazz Artist of the Year and was included in the DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star category. In the 2014 Hot House Jazz Awards, she won in each category for which she was nominated: Best Jazz Artist, Best Trumpet, Best Female Vocalist, and Best Group.

Known for her understanding of classic jazz and her instigative nature, the trumpeter/vocalist/composer is fashioning an adventurous style rooted in New Orleans jazz and blues, world percussion, soul, and cabaret.

Skonberg’s album Bria, her major-label debut released in September, includes fourteen songs. Most are standards such as “From This Moment On,” “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me,” and “Midnight Sun.” But five songs were written or co-written by Skonberg, who in addition to being a gifted trumpeter and engaging vocalist is an emerging composer.

She has headlined in New York City at Symphony Space, Birdland, The Iridium, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, and Café Carlyle. She has performed with Nicholas Payton, Anat Cohen, Bucky Pizzarelli, and other noteworthy musicians.

“She exhibits stylistic shades of Peggy Lee, Dinah Washington, and Diana Krall,” writes an All About Jazz critic. “She has a beautiful voice—both soul sultry and innocent sweet—and an instrumentalist’s feel for melodic line and rhythm. Her vocal and horn chops intertwine seamlessly.”