Ashli Christoval

Jazzy Ash is also known as Ashli Christoval, who grew up with a mom from New Orleans and a dad from Trinidad. Music infused her home life every day, from jazz to Caribbean rhythms to the lively children’s music which was playing all the time for the kids in her mother’s home day care. She often spent summers in New Orleans with her aunts and grandparents, enjoying the culture and music that permeated their West Bank neighborhood. Starting in junior high, Christoval explored musical theater, portraying roles as diverse as Lady Macbeth and Anita in West Side Story while singing in several choirs. Later on, after becoming mom to two sons, she earned a degree in early childhood development and embarked on her music education program, Leaping Lizards Music. Her first album Ready offers peppy songs exploring preschool concepts, and her second album Home was the first to explore her New Orleans musical heritage. Christoval’s recent NOLA visits during Mardi Gras, and participating in a neighborhood second line reaffirmed the importance of exploring this part of her heritage. “Learning about and performing this music gives me a foundation. Truly, I’ve found myself through this experience . Even though I was born in California, I see myself as a second- generation New Orleanean , since it’s so much a part of my family’s experience, going back at least five generations.”

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