Home » Jazz Musicians » Leila Adu

Leila Adu

With a voice like hot treacle on broken glass, whether singing of love or social change, fans consistently return to Leila Adu concerts to be “taken away to a parallel dimension of music and thought.”

Since returning to Europe in 2006, Leila performed both solo with piano and with her live band at various venues, as well as recordings from The Orchestra Pit and live studio sessions and interviews on BBC World Service and Resonance fm.

Leila has performed her original songs and improvisations at improv, jazz festvials and rock venues with international artists such as John Edwards, Steve Noble, Hannah Marshall, Nicola Guazzaloca, Mike Cooper, Steve Beresford, Jeff Henderson, Jim Denley, Richard Nunns, Fabrizio Spera, David Long, Jack Body, Alison Isadora, Jan-Bas Bollen, Audrey Chen, Lissa Meridan, Lol Coxhill and Leo Tadagawa. Performers on Leila’s albums have included Tom Callwood, Chris O’Connor, David Long (also Producer of Cherry Pie), Jeffrey Henderson, Chris Palmer, Francesca Mountfort, Lucien Johnson, Nick Van Dijk & Ricky Gooch.

She has performed and composed for dance, theatre, film, gamelan and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and taught children’s workshops in free- improvised singing and conducting. She completed post- graduate studies in 2003 at Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in composition and specialising in Electro-acoustic Music, Ethnomusicology and Orchestration.

Tags

89

Video / DVD

Leila Adu presses her luck with mysterious music video for "Fortuna" single

Leila Adu presses her luck with mysterious music video for "Fortuna" single

Source: 4961 Polemics

Leila Adu caps European leg of Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker Tour with debut of “Fortuna" ..."Leila Adu is a Revelation..."—Robert Wyatt, legendary founder of Soft Machine and Bjork collaborator “Leila Adu is a rebel-inspirer. And not in the way that calls for the raising of fists, or the hurling of sharp word-blades. Her defiance is decided... Anger isn't its mother. Wonder may be."—Purple Magazine London—Touching down in locales as varied as Los Angeles, London, Rome, Sicily and Berlin, ...

37

Performance / Tour

Leila Adu leaves the assembly line for The "Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker" CD Release Tour

Leila Adu leaves the assembly line for The "Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker" CD Release Tour

Source: 4961 Polemics

London, United Kingdom—Winter is arching towards Spring with singer/keyboardist/composer Leila Adu touring the US and UK/Europe in support of her critically acclaimed new album “Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker." Released January 18th on Italy's Rai Trade/Tracce label, Leila's work on the album has been sited as “a revelation" (by legendary Soft Machine founder Robert Wyatt), “Alternative-Alternative" and “Joni Mitchell brimming with melanin." Leila Adu is ready to bring all those declarations home. Born in London of Ghanaian and New ...

340

Recording

Leila Adu finds Harmony with the Voiceless In "Ode To the Unknown Factory Worker" Album Release

Leila Adu finds Harmony with the Voiceless In "Ode To the Unknown Factory Worker" Album Release

Source: 4961 Polemics

Leila Adu celebrates global CD release on Rai Trade/Tracce, the Italian National Radio label New York, NY—Leila Adu reemerges to the international music scene on January 18th with her powerful new album “Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker." The 11 song CD is a raw musical travelogue of uncertainty and triumph in the exciting nomadic life of the popular New Zealand/Ghanaian singer-composer-multi-instrumentalist. Touring the globe solo and with band throughout 2009-2010 in support of her Steve Albini produced “Dark Joan" ...

158

Performance / Tour

URB Alt Festival 2010 Declares That 5 is the Magic Number During NYC Summer with Muthawit, Faith, Jneiro Jarel, Twin Shadow, Leila Adu and More!

URB Alt Festival 2010 Declares That 5 is the Magic Number During NYC Summer with Muthawit, Faith, Jneiro Jarel, Twin Shadow, Leila Adu and More!

Source: 4961 Polemics

Popular URB ALT Festival celebrates 5th Anniversary with a 2001: A Space Odyssey tribute featuring Jneiro Jarel at The Harlem School of the Arts; outdoors in Saint Nicholas Park with Faith, Twin Shadow and others; a Galapagos Artspace Miles Davis “Bitches Brew" tribute featuring URB ALT Orchestra; and a night of movies and music at 92Y Tribeca with Leila Adu and MuthaWit Orchestra

“URB ALT Festival features artists that are exemplars of boundary crossing, synthesis and unification." - The Village ...

188

Performance / Tour

Leila Adu Rediscovers New Zealand in Month-Long Homecoming Tour

Leila Adu Rediscovers New Zealand in Month-Long Homecoming Tour

Source: 4961 Polemics

New Zealand - Singer/Composer/Performer Leila Adu proves that you can go home again with her first New Zealand tour in 5 years. Adu an artist of Ghanaian and British descent has produced three critically acclaimed albums, written for and sung with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, toured and received radio play around the globe. This upcoming tour that runs for a month beginning April 8 is Leila Adu's opportunity to give the homeland an upclose and personal experience in her ...

129

Performance / Tour

Leila Adu Does It Again with the Don'ts (John Edwards & Steve Noble) in UK Video Premiere Show with Steve Beresford and de Santis

Leila Adu Does It Again with the Don'ts (John Edwards & Steve Noble) in UK Video Premiere Show with Steve Beresford and de Santis

Source: 4961 Polemics

"Leila Adu is a rebel-inspirer. And not in the way that calls for the raising of fists, or the hurling of sharp word-blades. Her defiance is decided...Anger isn't its mother. Wonder may be." -- Purple Magazine London - Leila Adu, the London born songwriter/free improv singing sensation, comes home to the UK's cutting-edge hot spot, Vortex Jazz Bar. She will be working with her trio Leila Adu & the Don'ts on August, 3rd at 8pm in a special performance to ...

246

Performance / Tour

Leila Adu Does It with the Don'ts in Special London Performance

Leila Adu Does It with the Don'ts in Special London Performance

Source: 4961 Polemics

Leila Adu and Don'ts (John Edwards and Steve Noble) perform a very special London show at the Vortex Jazz Bar “Leila Adu's music is cryptic, edgy, oscillating between serious commentary and flippant experimentation." --Sheffield Telegraph London - After a triumphant performance at New York City's lovely Galapagos Art Space for URB ALT Get's Experienced, Jimi Hendrix Tribute, New Zealand raised and Italian based chanteuse Leila Adu lands in London at the cutting-edge hot spot, Vortex Jazz Bar. She will be ...

194

Performance / Tour

URB ALT Gets Experienced with Jimi Hendrix Tribute Featuring Muthawit Orchestra, Leila Adu and Guests

URB ALT Gets Experienced with Jimi Hendrix Tribute Featuring Muthawit Orchestra, Leila Adu and Guests

Source: 4961 Polemics

MuthaWit Orchestra, Leila Adu and special guests perform in celebration of the legacy of Jimi Hendrix.

“URB ALT features artists that are exemplars of boundary crossing, synthesis and unification." --The Village Voice

NEW YORK, NY -- The URB ALT showcase of cutting edge multi- cultural music/film/visual/literary artists explores the musical discography of legendary rocker, Jimi Hendrix on his birthday Friday, November 27th. The night of alternative music presented at Galapagos Artspace in Dumbo features the avant-garde classical/blues vocal and piano ...

“Leila Adu is a rebel-inspirer. And not in the way that calls for the raising of fists, or the hurling of sharp word-blades. Her defiance is decided… Anger isn’t its mother. Wonder may be.” Purple Magazine

“Her voice is extraordinary…both tender and terrifying.” Sunday Star Times

“If you haven’t already acquainted yourself with Adu, go do it.” The Dominion Post

*****TIME OUT LONDON CRITIC’S CHOICE*****

‘Avante-garde pop that recalls Nina Simone and Tim Buckley from the headliner’ Time Out

“Leila Adu is a rebel-inspirer. And not in the way that calls for the raising of fists, or the hurling of sharp word-blades. Her defiance is decided… Anger isn’t its mother. Wonder may be.” Purple Magazine

Read more

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ode to the Unknown...

Rai Trade/Tracce
2011

buy

Dark Joan

Universal Music
2009

buy

Truth in the Abstract...

White Butterfly
2009

buy

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.