Led by Renee Rosnes, jazz supergroup Artemis prepares debut album
By 2020/07/27
From left: Noriko Ueda, Melissa Aldana, Anat Cohen, Renee Rosnes, Allison Miller, Ingrid Jensen and Cécile McLorin Salvant.
Credit:Daniel Azoulay
Seven of the most prominent women in jazz have formed a jazz supergroup called Artemis, and their debut album is coming in September.
The band comprises pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, clarinetist Anat Cohen, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, bassist Noriko Ueda, drummer Allison Miller, and featured vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant.
Blue Note will release the group’s self-titled album on Sept. 11.
The album’s lead single Goddess of the Hunt, a thrilling instrumental composition by Miller that channels the band’s namesake Greek goddess, is streaming now.
The international supergroup brings together a massive amount of individual talent, with each of its members boasting successful careers of their own. It’s also a notably Canadian endeavour, with Rosnes, the group’s leader, and Jensen, who came up with the band’s name, both hailing from North Vancouver, B.C.
Together, they form a powerful, ambitious collective of some of the most acclaimed musicians in modern jazz.
The nine-song album features material composed and/or arranged by each of the band’s six instrumentalists.
“The group identity emerged organically,” Rosnes says. “We are seven leaders, each with our own vision and personal point of view, but we play with a unified conception.”
“Each member of Artemis is a unique character, which is what a band needs — versatility,” adds Cohen. “That’s what makes life interesting and that’s what makes music fascinating: the personalities.”
Jensen says the group being named after the Greek goddess Artemis is “indicative of the energies and wide array of musical tapestries that the band brings to the stage as we take our music to the moon, the stars, and beyond.”
In the brief time since their inception, Artemis have already performed on iconic stages such as Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival.
Here’s the track listing for Artemis, with credits:
Goddess of the Hunt (Allison Miller)
Frida (Melissa Aldana)
The Fool on the Hill (John Lennon/Paul McCartney, arranged by Ingrid Jensen)
Big Top (Renee Rosnes)
If It’s Magic (feat. Cécile McLorin Salvant) [Stevie Wonder, arranged by Renee Rosnes]
The Sidewinder (Lee Morgan, arranged by Renee Rosnes)
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