An internationally acclaimed Native American jazz vocalist, actor, activist, and educator currently based in New York City, Julia Keefe’s (Nez Perce) life’s work is the revival and honoring of the legendary Coeur d’Alene jazz musician, Mildred Bailey, and she is leading the campaign for Bailey’s induction into the Jazz Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center. Her 2024 release, The Mildred Bailey Project, features her the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, with whom she highlights the history and future of Indigenous people in jazz. Keefe, who has headlined marquee events at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. and NMAI-NY, and has opened for Tony Bennett and Esperanza Spalding, grew up in Kamiah, ID on her Tribe’s reservation before moving to Spokane, WA, where she began studying music. In 2007, she won Outstanding Vocal Soloist in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival competition in the alto division and she earned her bachelor’s in music from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music in 2012, graduating with honors. Keefe earned her master’s in music from Manhattan School of Music in 2019 and her passion for Indigenous film led to a feature in Sterlin Harjo’s critically acclaimed documentary, Love and Fury, as well as her first feature film, Virginia Minnesota, which was the closing feature at the Catalina Film Festival in 2018. Her 2020 recording, Nobody Else But Me, featuring her in a small ensemble setting, performing originals, Indigenous melodies, and reimagined standards, had the New York Times calling her “A songbird of a jazz vocalist,” and with her masterful command of the Great American Songbook interwoven with songs and stories from her Indigenous heritage, West Hawaii Today declared that she is a visionary Native American jazz pioneer who continues to expand the jazz spectrum. " Keefe has performed with renowned musicians such as Emmet Cohen, Billy Test, Dan Hearle, Andreas Oberg, Bob Bowman, Clipper Anderson, Jack Mouse, the Lionel Hampton Big Band, among many others.
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