About the Artist

About Emily Kuhn:

Emily Kuhn is a jazz trumpet player based in Chicago, IL, described by the Chicago Jazz Magazine as having “a charismatic style and a sophistication that belies her youth.” Originally from Charlottesville, VA, Emily has made a name for herself as an active bandleader, sidewoman, composer, and educator since moving to Chicago in 2016. Her debut album, Sky Stories (2020), received numerous accolades. Kuhn was named a Luminarts Fellow in Jazz in 2020 and received a nomination for “Best Jazz Musician” in the Chicago Reader’s 2020 end-of-year poll. Emily’s nine-piece chamber jazz ensemble, Helios, features a string quartet in lieu of a single chordal instrument and incorporates sounds from folk, popular, and classical musical traditions. Outside of this band, Emily plays regularly with a wide variety of ensembles across the jazz and Latin scenes in Chicago. She is the band program director for MUSIC Inc., which provides music programming for students on the West Side of Chicago, and has taught throughout Chicago and nationwide for numerous orchestras and workshops. Emily earned a BM and BA in Jazz Trumpet Performance and Environmental Studies from Oberlin, where she took part in the Double Degree program.

About Juli Wood: 

Juli Wood is a playful and boisterous saxophonist who has been on the Chicago jazz scene for twenty-plus years. She is aptly described as “a gutsy tenor and baritone saxophonist who also sings with the earthy gusto of an R&B diva filtered through a hard bop sensibility,” Bill Milkowski, JAZZTIMES. Wood has led a variety of groups, including her recent project “Little Rootie Tootie,” interpreting the amazing compositions of Thelonius Monk as well as original tunes and lyrics to Monk tunes. She has played at jazz clubs and festivals around the world, including repeated residencies in Finland where she was recently awarded Performer of the Year by the Finlandia Foundation for her two CDs of Finnish folk tunes interpreted through jazz stylings. Juli in on faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and has mentored young female instrumentalists through the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Women’s Leadership Initiative program.

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