An adventurous guitarist, a daring performer, an inventive composer, a dedicated educator, and a champion of equity and inclusion in music and academia, Jess Green has made a name for herself, chasing that creative spark that happens when music takes a turn you didn’t see coming. Now she’s bringing that same fearless energy to her new role, as program director of the Sydney Women’s International Jazz Festival.
A vocalist whose singing is like a warm embrace, a flutist weaving long, winding pathways of sound, and a groove champion who uses sampling as if it’s a jazz instrument on its own merit, Melanie Charles looks up at the star map of jazz and black music, identifies planets and galaxies, and travels from one place to another, her trajectory connecting the dots spread over 6-7 decades of music and culture — all through the lens of what she calls her ‘personal diaspora’.
