Performers

All-star jazz band
In June 2016, Shaye Cohn assembled an all-star, all-woman cast of traditional jazz musicians to perform for Girls Rock New Orleans. They had a blast playing together, and requests to play started pouring in. Shaye brought in Haruka Kikuchi and her Kid Ory-inspired trombone, and the six players -- Haruka, Marla Dixon on trumpet, Chloe Feoranzo on clarinet, Molly Reeves on guitar, Julie Schexnayder on string bass and percussionist Dizzy Incirlioglu -- have been gigging together ever since, in clubs around New Orleans and as far as Perugia, Italy. Their first 10-track record, Le Donne Mangiano Zucchero, was released in July.

Jazz pianist
Pianist, composer, and arranger Mari Watanabe began piano lessons at age five in Tokyo, where she was born. She was a member of the New Orleans Jazz Club while attending Waseda University, and after her first visit to New Orleans, she decided to make it her permanent home. Mari performs regularly at Preservation Hall and has appeared with local jazz legends such as Danny Baker, Dr. Michael White, Gregg Stafford, Tuba Fats, Kermit Ruffins, and more.

Brass band
Playing in the New Orleans brass band tradition, the Pinettes were formed by Jefferey Herbert in 1991 from alumni of St. Mary's Academy High School, an all-girl Catholic school. Today, the Original Pinettes are made up of many accomplished woman musicians around town. They play out at the Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Satchmo Festival, the Krewe of Muses parade, the French Quarter Festival and the Red Bull Festival -- while holding down lives as school teachers, computer techs and moms. "Not even Hurricane Katrina could stop us from doing what we love," says tuba player Janine Waters.

Modern jazz vocalist
Germaine Bazzle reigns as one of New Orleans’ premier jazz vocalists. She has a great sense of swing and is noted for her scatting and vocally re-creating the sounds of brassy instruments, with a distinctive voice that some consider a jazz counterpart to the R&B artist Irma Thomas. Her influences include Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Eckstein, and her repertoire includes classic jazz, American popular songs, show tunes, and the music of Duke Ellington.

Traditional jazz band
A bandleader, composer, performer and improviser, Aurora Nealand has become a prominent force in New Orleans music since she arrived here in 2005. Combining a formal education from Oberlin Conservatory with the informal experience of playing music in the streets and clubs of New Orleans, first as a sideman and now as leader of her own band, the Royal Roses, Nealand has emerged as an innovative, sensitive and daring music creator and performer at the forefront of the revival of New Orleans traditional jazz.

Traditional jazz band
The Preservation All-Stars represents a tradition that started in 1961, when Preservation Hall first opened in the French Quarter. These bands are comprised of some of the most revered alumni of the Hall, many of whom have toured the world with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band for decades.

As the world-renown Preservation Hall Jazz Band continues its exciting exploration of the boundaries of New Orleans jazz, the Preservation Hall Legacy Band has formed, with the help of the non-profit Preservation Hall Foundation, to help maintain a connection with the traditional aspects of the Hall’s musical legacy.

Singer
For jazz vocalist Robin Barnes, music is ingrained into the very fabric of her being; it’s in her blood, ever since her childhood in a household of musicians with her family’s jazz band, The Soul Heirs. Barnes’ most recent release, Songbird Sessions, a tribute to New Orleans jazz music greats and inspirations, debuted at #5 on the Traditional Jazz Albums Billboard charts and #8 on the Current Jazz Albums charts. Robin was voted Favorite New Orleans Musician by New Orleans magazine, and is a New Orleans Tourism Ambassador.