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Bria Skonberg

Canadian singer, trumpeter, and songwriter Bria Skonberg is described by The Wall Street Journal as one of the “most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation.” Recognized as one of “25 for the Future” by DownBeat magazine (Summer 2016), Skonberg is newly signed to Sony Music Masterworks’ OKeh Records, and will release her debut LP, simply titled BRIA, on September 23, 2016.

Wielding a unique blend of modern-day pop sensibility and sizzling musicianship, Skonberg aims for a sense of allure on the new collection. She credits producer Matt Pierson with helping her create music that is both curious and exotic, playing with tension and storytelling. Elite jazz chops, artfully mixed with worldly rhythms and contemporary songwriting, result in a sophisticated pop sound closely resembling that of Michael Bublé, Diana Krall, and Harry Connick Jr. Bria’s original tunes include the tango “Curious Game,” the bluesy instrumental “Down in the Deep,” and the Brazilian-flavored “How Can It Be” - a reflection of the sampling era.

Photo credit Carolina Palmgren Photo credit John Abbott

Noted as a Millennial “Shaking Up the Jazz World,” according to Vanity Fair, Skonberg is a self-described “small town girl” from Chilliwack, British Columbia. She left for Vancouver straight out of high school and earned a degree in Jazz Trumpet Performance from Capilano University. But even as she absorbed the deep knowledge and disciplined work habits needed for a jazz career, she was also hustling hard to book her two bands. While in university she juggled working every weekend, traveling to festivals and shows, plus cramming in schoolwork - all while on the road.

When not traveling for her own gigs, she was building up her stage-show chops with Dal Richards, Vancouver’s King of Swing. Playing at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver capped off this exciting period, with Bria featured at the Paralympics opening ceremony.

In 2012 Bria released So Is The Day (Random Act Records); her first album on a US-based label. That collection showcased a developing flair for original songs with just the right amount of standards mixed in, and also featured a duet with the legendary John Pizzarelli, So Is The Day received rave reviews from critics, drawing comparisons to Norah Jones in The New York Daily News. In 2015, a year after her second album, Into Your Own, was released, Skonberg received the Jazz At Lincoln Center Swing! Award.

To date, Bria has performed at some 100 festivals worldwide.

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In Pictures

Bria Skonberg Quartet Plays The Perry Pavilion

Read "Bria Skonberg Quartet Plays The Perry Pavilion" reviewed by Mark Robbins


When the city of Chilliwack, British Columbia comes up in a conversation ( if it ever does), one's first thought does not turn to jazz. Now it should because jazz vocalist/trumpet player Bria Skonberg comes from that small Canadian city. Called the “shining hope of hot jazz," Skonberg has appeared on over 25 albums either as a leader or band member. She has won the Jazz At Lincoln Center Swing Award, awarded the Best Vocal and Best Trumpet from Hot ...

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Album Review

Bria Skonberg: Nothing Never Happens

Read "Nothing Never Happens" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Canadian trumpeter Bria Skonberg has made a name for herself as a player who is adept in traditional jazz styles but can also dabble in modern forms of rock and pop music. Her previous CD, With A Twist (Okeh, 2017), was a fun mixture of hot jazz and bubbly 1950s and 1960s pop tunes sparked with her own bright energy. Since then the grind of a musician's life, the state of the world and general media overload seem to have ...

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Album Review

Bria Skonberg: Nothing Never Happens

Read "Nothing Never Happens" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


In what can only be considered a wide, darker turn from her five previous recordings which swayed and swung in more traditional, pre-bop, jazz settings, award-winning trumpeter-vocalist-composer Bria Skonberg takes us through the dark night of her heart and the national soul on the fraught, yet impossible-not-to-listen-to Nothing Never Happens. Swamped as we all are by the twenty-four-hour news cycle which brings the apocalypse to our very doorsteps, and the myriad emotions that all too often empower us ...

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Interview

Bria Skonberg: In Flight

Read "Bria Skonberg: In Flight" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


Bria Skonberg's roots are in a city more than 2,000 miles--and a different country--away from jny: New Orleans and the traditional jazz music identified with region at the mouth of the Mississippi River. But when she puts her trumpet to her lips and plays, whether with her own quintet or another formation, running through a standard or original song, the spirit of the Crescent City emerges. Traditional jazz--particularly Louis Armstrong--is what first inspired the young girl in Chilliwack, ...

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Album Review

Bria Skonberg: So is the Day

Read "So is the Day" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


It's a rare talent that can straddle--and dare request membership in--the trumpet artist continuum emanating from Louis Armstrong and progressing down through his “Neo Orleans" progeny: Byron Stripling, Wynton Marsalis and Nicholas Payton (whose big band trumpet section Skonberg graces). However, with her bravura performance on So is the Day, Bria Skonberg confirms that she is not only indeed a triple threat musician--player, vocalist and composer--but also that that esteemed lineage, consummate entertainers all, would heartily approve her membership.

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Event

Bria Skonberg: Rising Star On Hot Jazz Scene

Bria Skonberg: Rising Star On Hot Jazz Scene

Source: Bill Johnson

"If Louis Armstrong and Doris Day could somehow be the same person, they'd be Bria Skonberg." —Wall Street Journal Jazz lovers in jny: Oakland and Mill Valley, Calif. Are in for a real treat in late March as Bria Skonberg brings her unique talents to the jny: San Francisco Bay area. She calls her music Hot Jazz and there is certainly no one hotter than 31-year-old Bria Skonberg on the trumpet. She moved to jny: New York City from Canada ...

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Performance / Tour

Hot jazz in every sense

Hot jazz in every sense

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes

Trumpeter and singer Bria Skonberg, a British Columbia native now making her mark on the New York jazz scene, brought her talents and charm to Southwest Florida on Sunday, March 8. She performed at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center in Sarasota in a South County Jazz Club concert. Skonberg, whose music is rooted in traditional jazz but isn't limited to it, displayed a wide range of stylistic material - and strong vocals to boot. She was backed by pianist Dalton ...

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Event

Bria Skonberg Quartet On SF Bay Area Stages

Bria Skonberg Quartet On SF Bay Area Stages

Source: Bill Johnson

Bria Skonberg Hot NYC Jazz Trumpeter on SF Bay Area Stages OAKLAND/MILL VALLEY, CA: Chanteuse Bria Skonberg has been called the beautiful jazz singer with a golden horn and that’s certainly apropos. “If Louis Armstrong and Doris Day could somehow be the same person, they'd be Bria Skonberg. With her outstandingly ‘Satchelmouthed’ trumpet solos, charismatic singing and sunshine personality, the 30-year-old continues to shine a light on the New Hot Jazz movement, in her own bands, in the Armstrong Eternity ...

Radio

Bria Skonberg, Dave Bennett In Riverwalk Jazz Jam Session This Week

Bria Skonberg, Dave Bennett In Riverwalk Jazz Jam Session This Week

Source: Don Mopsick

This week on Riverwalk Jazz, three remarkable “20-something” musicians join The Jim Cullum Jazz Band on stage at The Landing in San Antonio. All share a passion for classic pre-WWII jazz and make an important contribution to the legacy of the music through their playing. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International. You can also drop in on a continuous stream of shows at the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound. Firmly rooted in the language of ...

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Radio

Trumpeter Bria Skonberg This Week On Riverwalk Jazz

Trumpeter Bria Skonberg This Week On Riverwalk Jazz

Source: Don Mopsick

In his book Preservation Hall, author William Carter asks whether traditional jazz will die out with the current generation, or “re-seed itself?” This week on Riverwalk Jazz, trumpeter Bria Skonberg, one of a new generation of gifted 20-something players, visits the stage of The Landing to perform classic jazz with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM satellite radio and can be streamed on-demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website. ...

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Recording

Multi-Talented Emerging Artist Bria Skonberg To Make U.S. Debut With "So Is The Day" Available April 10 On Random Act Records

Multi-Talented Emerging Artist Bria Skonberg To Make U.S. Debut With "So Is The Day" Available April 10 On Random Act Records

Source: Michael Ricci

Less than two years ago, trumpeter-vocalist-composer-bandleader Bria Skonberg uprooted from Western Canada and arrived in New York City. Lured by the music and those who play it so well, the already-seasoned musician hoped to thrive and to learn in the jazz mecca. The city landscape and abundance of clubs proved to be a stark contrast to the hobby farm Skonberg was raised on in Chilliwack, British Columbia, but the young musician dove in head-first, ready to make an impact with ...

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Radio

In the Footsteps of Giants: Introducing Trumpet Dynamo Bria Skonberg

In the Footsteps of Giants: Introducing Trumpet Dynamo Bria Skonberg

Source: Michael Ricci

Jazz first attracted a mass audience in the years following the First World War, almost 90 years ago. Frequent revivals notwithstanding, the question is often posed, “who will carry the torch in the next generation?" In his book Preservation Hall, author William Carter asks whether traditional jazz will die out with the current generation, or “or re-seed itself?"

With her dazzling smile and sun-streaked hair, you might expect Bria Skonberg to be toting a surfboard down a California beach, instead ...

"If the Nu Hot Jazz movement has produced one indisputable star, it is the dynamic trumpet diva Bria Skonberg, who hasn't only galvanized the neo-traditional scene, but, lately, moved beyond it."  Will Friedwald, Wall Street Journal

Re: The Hot Jazz Festival "Among the scene’s newer catalysts is Ms. Skonberg, 30, who has earned accolades not only for her trumpet playing, in the lineage of Louis Armstrong, but also for her singing, in a softer, slinkier mode."  Nate Chinen, The NY Times 

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Nothing Never Happens

Self Produced
2019

buy

Bria

Okeh
2016

buy

Into Your Own

Random Act Records
2015

buy

So is the Day

Random Act Records
2012

buy

Fresh

Lighter Than Air Records
2009

buy

Videos

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