Canadian-born, New York City-based jazz artist Bria Skonberg will release her new album Indigo on July 3, 2026 via Cellar Music Group. The Juno award-winning vocalist and trumpeter describes this album as a celebration of song, storytelling, and the many shades of her vocal artistry.
Serving as a companion album to Brass, a trumpet-focused release in earlier this year, Indigo shifted the focus on to Skonberg’s voice while continuing the exploration of her musical identity. The two albums were conceived as complementary works, allowing her to explore different sides of her artistry.
“After decades of figuring out where the trumpet and the voice come together,” Skonberg says, “I thought it would be interesting and challenging to explore them both.” Frequently asked whether she is a singer who plays trumpet or a trumpet player who sings, Shonberg responded with the release of both albums. “I had to work on them both, individually,” she explains. “It’s always good to come back and sharpen the saw.”
Co-produced by Skonberg and her longtime collaborator Matt Pierson, Indigo features bassist Eric Wheeler and drummer Darrian Douglas, who also contributed to Brass. This album’s orchestral arrangements were created by multi-Grammy Award-winning pianist and arranger Gil Goldstein, who collaborated with Skonberg with her former album With a Twist in 2017.
“What I love about Gil is he has such a huge imagination,” says Skonberg. “There was never any doubt he would be the person to arrange the album.”
The recording also features a chamber ensemble that includes violinists Antoine Silverman and Entcho Todorov, violist Yuko Naito-Gotay, cellist Emily Brausa, alto flutist Kathleen Nester, and bass clarinetist Charles Pillow. Together, they created a warm and textured layer behind Skonberg’s vocals. “Gil and I settled on some really amazing sound combinations,” she says, “but once you pull together cello, alto flute, bass clarinet and where my voice sits, it’s just gorgeous.”
According to Skonberg, Indigo explores themes of connection, vulnerability, and self-discovery. “Indigo is an exploration in nuances: conversations, chemistry, fragility, and sense of self,” she says. “Many of these songs require a certain amount of life experience to be able to understand and interpret them.”
The album opens with Micheal Legrand’s “Watch What Happens”, a song that Skonberg described as “my current love letter to humanity”. After that, the album includes “I’m Glad There Is You,” “Mood Indigo,” Sting’s “Fragile,” and the original composition “So It Goes.” There is one track, “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” that appears both in Brass and Indigo, serving as a metaphor for the dual-album project. Ultimately, the album concludes with “We’ll Be Together Again,” ending on Skonberg’s expression both as an artist and a person navigating a troubled world.
“I try to bring people together as much as possible,” she says. “If I can get people having a shared experience, in live concerts, whatever their opinions or views are, to me that’s meaningful.”
Indigo by Bria Skonberg comes out on July 3 via Cellar Music Group.
- Watch What Happens
- I’m Glad There is You
- Mood Indigo
- Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
- If You Go Away
- Fragile
- So It Goes
- Tell Him I Said Hello
- We’ll Be Together Again
Peggy Zhu is a Grade 11 student at St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School who recently completed a CO-OP placement at JAZZ.FM91 this past Spring.
