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Jasmine Lovell-Smith

Jasmine Lovell-Smith is a composer and saxophonist from New Zealand, currently based in New York City. Born to an American mother, a trained opera vocalist, and a Kiwi father, the voice was her first instrument. After discovering jazz in high school, Jasmine took up the saxophone and went on to graduate from Massey University (Wellington, NZ) in 2006 with a Bachelor of Music (1st class Honors) majoring in jazz saxophone performance and composition. She was awarded a full Honors scholarship on the basis of exceptional academic achievement.

As a composer/arranger, Jasmine’s works have been performed by such groups as the New Zealand Youth Jazz Orchestra and the New Zealand High Schools Jazz Orchestra. She has also performed widely in New Zealand and North America with a variety of ensembles. In 2008 Jasmine was selected as a participant in the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music in Alberta, CA, and in 2010 she attended the School for Improvisational Music Summer Intensive in Brooklyn, NY. Jasmine seeks to create music that is lyrical and memorable, balancing intuition and spontaneity with carefully crafted structures. Some of her interests include setting poetry to music, polyphony and composing for woodwind instruments. She is also an experienced educator, and has worked as an Artist Tutor in the New Zealand School of Music’s undergraduate jazz program.

Jasmine relocated to New York City in the summer of 2010, where she leads her own quintet, Towering Poppies. The quintet performs regularly in New York at such venues as the Douglass St Music Collective and the Launchpad. Towering Poppies will release their debut album in August of 2012. Jasmine is also a member of the collaborative world/folk/improv trio Pangaea, and co-leads the “Common Wealth” sextet with saxophonist Angela Morris. She was recently accepted into the Master of Arts in Composition program at Wesleyan University, and will undertake study there with Anthony Braxton, among others, beginning in Fall 2012.

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Album Review

Jasmine Lovell-Smith's Towering Poppies: Yellow Red Blue

Read "Yellow Red Blue" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Soprano saxophonist/composer Jasmine Lovell-Smith released her excellent debut CD, Fortune Songs in 2012, two years after her move from her native New Zealand to New York. Four years later--after studies with Anthony Braxton and a move to Morelia, Mexico--she offers a follow-up effort, Yellow Red Blue. First rate debuts set up the expectations. Sophomore outings can disappoint through risk aversion or a wavering of artistic vision. Or they can delight via a broadening of the original vision--especially composition-wise--and ...

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Album Review

Jasmine Lovell-Smith: Fortune Songs

Read "Fortune Songs" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


A debut CD has to be good to get noticed--really good. Also, behind the pretty, well-designed cover art, an aspiring jazz person with a low profile has to have some nerve to put forty-five minutes to an hour of brand new music out there. At the very least, a new-to-the-scene artist better be able to run with the pack of more established players, or be quickly forgotten.Soprano saxophonist Jasmine Lovell-Smith, who moved to New York from New Zealand ...

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Take Five With...

Take Five With Jasmine Lovell-Smith

Read "Take Five With Jasmine Lovell-Smith" reviewed by Jasmine Lovell-Smith


Meet Jasmine Lovell-Smith: Jasmine Lovell-Smith is a composer and saxophonist from New Zealand, currently based in New York City. Born to an American mother, a trained opera vocalist, and a Kiwi father, the voice was her first instrument. After discovering jazz in high school, Jasmine took up the saxophone and went on to graduate from Massey University (Wellington, NZ) in 2006 with a Bachelor of Music (1st class Honors) majoring in jazz saxophone performance and composition. She was ...

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Website

All About Jazz Top 10 MP3 Downloads: October 2016

All About Jazz Top 10 MP3 Downloads: October 2016

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz features a free song every day spanning all genres of jazz, and of the 31 tracks featured in October, these ten represent our personal favorites. We also included the top ten reader favorites as indicated by total downloads. Musicians and record labels can submit full length MP3s for consideration here. Enjoy! EDITOR'S PICKS Moving Mountains 06:38 Jasmine Lovell-Smith From: Yellow Red Blue Spider's Diner 06:10 Iordache

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Recording

Jasmine Lovell-Smith's Towering Poppies Release Colorful Debut "Fortune Songs"

Jasmine Lovell-Smith's Towering Poppies Release Colorful Debut "Fortune Songs"

Source: Jasmine Lovell-Smith

The term “Towering Poppies,” which saxophonist Jasmine Lovell-Smith chose to christen her stellar quintet, is an evocative one, conjuring images of radiant flowers reaching heavenward, bold colors against a bright sky. Those images are perfectly appropriate for the stunning sounds of Lovell-Smith’s debut CD, Fortune Songs. But for the New Zealand native, the name has a deeper, more personal meaning. “In New Zealand we have something called ‘tall poppy syndrome,’” Lovell-Smith explains.“It’s this idea that there’s an intolerance of difference ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Yellow Red Blue

Paintbox Records
2016

buy

Fortune Songs

Paintbox Records
2012

buy

Moving Mountains

From: Yellow Red Blue
By Jasmine Lovell-Smith

Confidence (One)

From: Fortune Songs
By Jasmine Lovell-Smith

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