Jamie Baum / The Jamie Baum Septet+

Jamie Baum / The Jamie Baum Septet+
New York, NY
Grant amount: $15,000 

About the Artist

Band leader NYC jazz flutist/composer/educator and Sunnyside Records artist Jamie Baum has toured the US and over 35 countries performing at major festivals and venues and has worked with artists as renowned and diverse as Paul Motian, Randy Brecker, Dave Douglas, Fred Hersch, Louis Cole, Roy Hargrove, Anthony Braxton, V.M. Bhatt and Wadada Leo Smith. Her many awards and honors include several grants and residencies, a 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship, eleven nominations by the Jazz Journalists Association for "Flutist of the Year", appearing in the DownBeat Critics Polls annually since 1998, the 2020 JazzTimes Critics and Readers Polls, in addition to several international publication features.

For the past 20 years Jamie Baum’s mission has been to compose and create opportunities to perform her compositions and arrangements/orchestrations with The Jamie Baum Septet+, developing a unique voice with the colors and textures of this instrumentation while breaking ground for the flute's role in jazz. Having specific musicians to write for has offered incredible opportunities for experimentation and growth for both Baum as a composer/performer and for her bandmates, as heard in the evolution of their CDs.

With the release of "Bridges" for Sunnyside Records in 2018, they celebrated their 20th year with all four of their CDs having received stellar reviews in relevant publications including The New York Times, features on NPR's "All Things Considered" and making several "Best CDs" of the year lists. The Jazz Journalists Association nominated the Septet+ as "Best Midsize Ensemble of 2014" and "Bridges" was included in the 2019 JazzTimes 10: Essential Jazz Flute Albums. Recent tours in the US and abroad at notable venues/festivals include the Monterey, North Sea, NYC Winter JazzFest, Jazztopad, Tampere Jazz Happening and London Jazz Festivals, Bimhuis (Amsterdam), Unterfahrt (Germany), Jazz Club U staré paní (Prague), Jazz Gallery, Jazz Standard, Firehouse 12, etc.

The Jamie Baum Septet+ includes: Jamie Baum - flute/alto flute, Amir ElSaffar – trumpet, Sam Sadigursky – alto sax/bass clarinet, Chris Komer - French horn, Brad Shepik - guitar, John Escreet – piano, Zack Lober – bass and Jeff Hirshfield – drums