Jazz at Princeton University Presents Jazz Vocal Ensemble With Special Guest Becca Stevens

JAZZ AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY serves to promote this uniquely American music as a contemporary and relevant art form. Its goals are to convey the vast musical and social history of jazz, establish a strong theoretical and stylistic foundation with regard to improvisation and composition, and emphasize the development of individual expression and creativity. Offerings of this program include academic course work, performing ensembles, master classes, private study, and independent projects. Jazz at Princeton University thanks you for joining them on this evening’s journey of beauty, exploration, discovery, and hope.

JAZZ VOCAL ENSEMBLE (JVE) is a small jazz ensemble that features solo and ensemble voices with rhythm section (i.e. piano, guitar, bass, and drums) along with horns. This elite group of Princeton singers collaborates, creates and composes with their jazz instrumentalist counterparts. JVE hosts acclaimed professional jazz musicians and performs engaging concerts with a focus on jazz history, culture, storytelling and stage craft. For more information, contact jazz@princeton.edu.

Twice GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter BECCA STEVENS has established an outstanding career of blending effortless vocal talent with exquisite compositions that draw inspiration from pop, jazz, indie-rock, and folk music traditions. Her music stretches the boundaries of convention with songs that weave together her classical and Appalachian folk music upbringing with her love of the rich rhythms and harmonies of jazz and world music, further enhanced and accompanied by her skill on multiple string instruments.

Becca has toured internationally as the bandleader of the Becca Stevens Band since its inception in 2006. Along with her solo output, Becca is a highly respected collaborator who has written and toured extensively with the likes of David Crosby as an active member of his Lighthouse Band, Jacob Collier, Michael League of Snarky Puppy and Taylor Eigsti, to name just a few.

Becca has released collaborative records that blend her original music with the world-renowned Secret Trio, as well as with the illustrious Attacca Quartet (with whom she was co-nominated for a 2023 GRAMMY for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals with violist Nathan Schram). Becca has performed and recorded with many of her musical heroes, including Brad Mehldau, Laura Mvula, Michael McDonald, Snarky Puppy, Chris Thile, Antonio Sánchez, Alan Hampton, Gretchen Parlato, Louis Cole, Vince Mendoza, Brian Blade, Metropole Orkest, Tim Heidecker and Ambrose Akinmusire, among many others.

Her upcoming album, Maple to Paper (GroundUP ’24), is an illuminating glimpse into her most private moments of grief and transcendence, rendered with both stunning clarity and heartfelt devotion to music’s alchemical powers. In a profound shift from the highly communal nature of her past projects—including her Grammy-nominated 2020 LP Wonderbloom, Maple to Paper showcases Stevens’ ability to captivate the listener with the barest of elements. Working at her home studio in New Jersey, she slowly dreamed up a stripped-down sound rooted in her spellbinding guitar work and raw yet luminous vocal performance. Recorded live with no overdubs and mixed by Stevens’ frequent collaborator Nic Hard (Snarky Puppy, Huntertones), Maple to Paper offsets its exacting minimalism with an emotional force that envelops the listener right from the outset of the record.

In the Summer of 2024, Becca made her Broadway debut in ILLINOISE, a musical based on Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois, book written by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury.

Vocalist, educator, songwriter, bandleader MICHELLE LORDI has received international accolades and heavy rotation on jazz/AAA radio stations in the US and abroad for her jazz and genre bending recording projects. Lordi has performed in jazz clubs, festivals and performance venues across the US and in Europe. Her projects have garnered favorable reviews in Downbeat, JazzTimes, Jazziz (US), NYC Jazz Record, Jazz Journal, JazzWise (UK), JazzLife& Jaz.In (Japan). Lordi’s music has been featured by NPR Music Live Sessions and Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Whether Lordi is performing American Songbook standards with jazz legends or exploring experimental soundscapes in her original music, a profound love of the music she chooses to sing and the musicians she creates with is evident in her vividly expressive and elegantly communicative voice. Lordi brings the insightful connection, creativity, and artistic collaboration that she has honed on the bandstand to her teaching here at Princeton University.

Directed by Michelle Lordi

JVE Band

Otto Trueman-piano

Alessandro Troncoso- alto sax

Daniela Vita- guitar

Ian Kenselaar- bass

Quinn Dorward- drums

JVE Vocalists

Isabella Checa

Melody Choi

Sophia Varughese

Vincent Gerardi

Adia Allison

Kevin Guan

Allison Jiang

Camille Jones

Paolo Montoya