“Collectively, the sheer force of the group’s ability is staggering!”
~ Downbeat
On May 18th, 2024, the Vermont Jazz Center will present Artemis, voted the “Jazz Group of the Year” by the 2023 Downbeat Reader’s poll. This supergroup was initially organized by pianist and music director Renee Rosnes. The other members are trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda, and drummer Allison Miller. The first incarnation of Artemis was formed in 2016 when Rosnes put together a band for a European tour.
In an interview with Don Was of Blue Note Records, she recalled, “We had so much fun playing together… We realized then that we had something special and that there was a natural chemistry that you can’t make happen.” The band has evolved to its present format: a quintet of leader-level musicians who love performing and touring together so much that they collectively regard this project as a high priority.
“Together they revealed a shared intensity and suggested something alluring and new… The real headline here is this ensemble’s cohesion, its ability to move gracefully through various styles and moods and to sound, by turns, authoritative and playful, locked-in or loose-limbed… Artemis means to upend expectations, gently and yet with force.”
~ Wall Street Journal
When asked by Don Was how they came up with the name Artemis, Ingrid Jensen brought up her research on powerful ancient goddesses : she explored the “poetic and beautiful land of Greek gods and goddesses and found Artemis. “It just jumped off the page — that’s us,” she said. Jensen discovered an image of a statue of Artemis online and, in digging deeper, she realized that Artemis was the goddess of the hunt: “It was perfect.”
Later on, drummer Allison Miller wrote a song on her electric bass which she called “Goddess of the Hunt.” She said “the hunt-like, aggressive, repetitive bassline became what I felt was a representation of Artemis and reflected the determination of each member in this band. And then from there [that composition] became a way to feature each member in the band and a way to explore the qualities that I think make women so incredible and powerful.”
In an interview with Neon Jazz, Rosnes discussed the way the band collaborates as a collective. She said she was an “organizing force,” but “it’s all of our vision together.” She went on, “We do work well together, and since we’re performing pieces from everybody (everybody’s a composer or arranger)… whoever’s piece we’re working on conducts the rehearsal.” She said that she hoped the “music could be inspirational for young women so that they could look at a band like this and say, ‘iI they can do it, then I can do it — I can have a career in jazz.’”
This inspirational group plays music that is carefully scripted and expertly performed. The arrangements are clear and tight and the blend and dynamics are perfect. Adventurous and improvisational elements of jazz are also embraced and encouraged. Each musician is a master improviser; the open sections in each tune are exciting forays into the unexpected, replete with charismatic interplay, melodicism and virtuosity. These players demonstrate an elevated level of energy that is often guided by the propelling rhythms of Allison Miller’s drums. Nonetheless, their displays of expertise are far from gratuitous; every note and gesture is geared towards the service of the music and each composition is filled with intention and meaning.
Members of Artemis
Renee Rosnes
Pianist Renee Rosnes surrounds herself with musicians of the highest level. She thinks big when inviting guests to perfectly complement and enhance the results of her projects. Guest musicians who have performed on her recordings include Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, John Patitucci, Chris Potter, Zakir Hussain, Christian McBride, Jack DeJohnette, Dianne Reeves, Ron Carter, Steve Wilson, Don Alias and many others. To date, Rosnes has released a series of 18 albums as a leader, six of which have garnered Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy.
In 2003 she earned SOCAN’s (Society of Canadian Composers) Composer of the Year award. Aside from leading her own bands, Rosnes is currently a member of bassist Ron Carter’s Quartet and often performs in a duo project with her husband, another wonderful pianist, Bill Charlap. She has also toured and recorded in the bands of jazz legends Joe Henderson, JJ Johnson, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, Buster Williams and James Moody.
A review from the Boston Globe sums up her place in the spectrum quite clearly: “Rosnes has carved out for herself a reputation as one of jazz’s new bright lights. She has impressed veterans of the bebop and free jazz wars with a crisp, uncluttered approach to improvisation that respects, but doesn’t genuflect to, the music of the past.”
Ingrid Jensen
Ingrid Jensen has been hailed as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1989, she went on to record three highly acclaimed CDs for the ENJA record label and then settled in New York City where she joined the jazz orchestras of Maria Schneider (1994-2012) and Darcy James Argue (2002-present). More recently, Ingrid has performed with the Grammy-winning Terri-Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project and Helen Sung’s Sung with Words. She is a featured soloist on the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra’s Juno-award-winning album, Treelines (2011), and its successor, Habitat (2013).
She has performed or recorded on dozens of projects including work with Clark Terry, Esperanza Spalding, Ethan Iverson, Karin Allyson, Rufus Reid, Ellen Rowe, Dianne Reeves, Geoff Keezer, DIVA, Virginia Mayhew, British R&B artist Corrine Bailey Rae (on Saturday Night Live), and Sarah McLachlan. Jensen leads her own quintet, quartet, and organ trio and has recorded ten albums as a leader. She was chosen as the 2019 recipient of the Jazz Journalists Trumpeter-of-the-Year award.
Nicole Glover
Saxophonist Nicole Glover has established herself as a rising star and a musician in great demand. Her most recent recording as a leader is Strange Lands (Savant), with the venerable pianist George Cables. A native of Portland, Oregon, Glover moved east to attend William Paterson University. She is currently a member of a quintet led by bassist Christian McBride, and performs often with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
In August 2023, she toured Australia with JLCO, performing Marsalis’ symphonic work “All Rise” with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with drummers Al Foster, Victor Lewis, Lenny White, and Kenny Washington, Grammy award winning vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Buika, saxophonist Rudresh Manhanthappa, vibraphonist Joel Ross, bassists Reggie Workman, Harish Raghavan, Ben Wolfe, and Gene Perla, and pianists Bill Charlap, Geoffrey Keezer, Luis Perdomo, and George Colligan, among many others. Glover is also featured on Esperanza Spalding’s Radio Music Society, and Aaron Diehl and The Knights’ album Zodiac Suite, which has been nominated for a 2024 Grammy Award for “Best Classical Compendium.”
Noriko Ueda
Bassist Noriko Ueda studied jazz composition at Berklee College of Music on a scholarship. She then relocated to New York City. Bass legend Rufus Reid has stated, “Noriko Ueda stands tall as a contemporary world class musician in my book.” She has appeared at significant jazz venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, the Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, Blue Note, and Birdland, with artists such as Frank Wess, Ann Hampton Callaway, Kenny Barron, DIVA, Makoto Ozone and many others. She leads a trio, quartet, and full jazz orchestra and is the winner of the 2002 BMI Foundation’s Charlie Parker Jazz composition Prize for her original big band piece “Castle in the North.”
Allison Miller
Drummer and composer Allison Miller emerged as a serious contender in the New York scene in the late ’90s. She has garnered recognition from the public, including being recognized as a “Rising Star Drummer” from Downbeat Magazine and “Best Jazz Drummer” from JazzTimes. She has played and recorded with a diverse range of artists from Ani DiFranco, Brandi Carlile and Natalie Merchant to Marty Ehrlich, Ben Allison, Virginia Mayhew and Dr. Lonnie Smith.
A three-time Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, she also leads her own inventive groups and has released ten albums as a leader. Her most recent project, Rivers in Our Veins, with Jennie Scheinman and Carmen Staaf, is an emotionally powerful 12-song cycle inspired by America’s rivers and watersheds. Nate Chinen, writer for the NY Times, claims Allison Miller is “one of our most exacting and exhilarating drummers now working in the jazz tradition — as well as a composer who truly understands the assignment.”
“On a sunny August afternoon in 2018, I was among the thousands of fans attending the Newport Jazz Festival who had their minds blown by Artemis. Although each individual member of this supergroup is a bona fide jazz titan, these incredible musicians dwell in the rarefied air of bands whose whole is greater than the sum of its already sublime parts. Their musical conversation is sophisticated, soulful and powerful, and their groove runs deep.”
~ Don Was, Blue Note Records President
Event Details
Artemis will be appearing at the Vermont Jazz Center on Saturday, May 18th at 7:30 PM. Come enjoy the music and find out why Artemis has been recognized as the “Jazz Group of the Year” in DownBeat’s 2023 Reader’s Poll.
The VJC greatly appreciates the sponsorship of this performance by VJC’s supporters David Salzberg and Elissa Barr. For numerous years these dedicated jazz aficionados have stepped up to recognize and help finance the Jazz Center’s efforts to bring world-class jazz to New England. Publicity is underwritten by The Commons and The Brattleboro Reformer. The VJC is supported in part by the Vermont Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Vermont Community Foundation.
In-person tickets for Artemis at the Vermont Jazz Center are offered on a sliding fee scale from $25 to $60 per person (contact the VJC about educational group discounts), available online at www.vtjazz.org, by email at or by calling the Vermont Jazz Center ticket line at 802-254-9088, ext. 1. Handicapped access for the in-person event is available by emailing elsa@vtjazz.org.
The online streaming of this concert will be offered free of charge but donations are welcomed and just a click away. Please give generously and support live music. Access to the on-line event can be found online at www.vtjazz.org and at https://www.facebook.com/VermontJazzCenter/live/.
