Biography
Jasmine Myra, born Jasmine Whalley, works from Leeds, England, as an alto saxophonist, flutist, composer, and bandleader. Her output stays grounded in jazz yet moves through post-bop, modal forms, crossover classical, and contemporary instrumental music. The 2019 debut EP Bring to Light, issued after a crowd-funding drive under the name Jasmine, presented the core quintet moving among post-bop, electronica, and hip-hop while drawing on MF Doom, Soweto Kinch, and Kenny Wheeler. Horizons, credited to Jasmine Myra and released in 2022 on Gondwana, featured an organic jazz octet enlarged by harp and string quartet; Matthew Halsall, the label’s trumpeter and A&R representative, produced the sessions, which Greg Freeman of Portico Quartet mixed. U.K. radio and club programmers embraced the record, resulting in a nomination for Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year. Myra again collaborated with Halsall and Freeman on the 2024 Gondwana album Rising, a set that revisits the emotional territory of the debut while reflecting further development.
Born Jasmine Whalley in Leeds, she grew up with a jazz-pianist father whose extensive record collection surrounded her. She began on violin in primary school before switching to saxophone in high school, at which point she committed to music as a vocation. Early listening centered on Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, and the wider jazz lineage. School activities included pickup groups in the music room, the school jazz band, the school orchestra, and the Leeds Youth Jazz Rock Orchestra.
She enrolled at Leeds College of Music to study jazz composition and performance, joined numerous ensembles there, and performed with the quartet Têtes de Pois—guitarist Ben Haskins, keyboardist George MacDonald, electric bassist Owen Burns, and drummer George Hall—which later became the quintet known as Jasmine. The group worked regularly in Leeds and Manchester and appeared in London alongside Nubya Garcia. Myra also attended Leeds Conservatoire and performed in instructor Rob Mitchell’s jazz-hip-hop ensemble Abstract Orchestra.
In 2018 she launched a crowd-funding effort to document original material with the quintet. The resulting nine-track EP Bring to Light appeared on Tight Lines in 2019, fusing jazz, hip-hop, and electronica; critics, bookers, and DJs responded positively, and Jazz North Introduces selected the band for its 2018/2019 program, which placed the group on six northern jazz festivals. When global lockdown began in 2020, Myra countered isolation by writing for a larger ensemble. She drew on the example of Kenny Wheeler—especially Windmill Tilter, Gnu High, Deer Wan, and Music for Large & Small Ensembles—to broaden her harmonic language with classical instrumentation. After restrictions eased, she tested the expanded format in rehearsal and performance. Matthew Halsall heard the results, signed her to Gondwana, and the core nonet was assembled with Anna Chandler on soprano saxophone, Jasper Green on keyboards, acoustic bassists Gavin Barras and Sam Quintana, and percussionist Greg Burns; Haskins and Hall returned from the earlier EP. Harpist Alice Roberts, violinists Isabella Baker and Lisa Natsuno, violist Elizabeth Lister, and cellist Lizzie Elliot completed the lineup. Horizons, released that July, abandoned hip-hop for denser, more organic textures and broader melodic lines. International acclaim followed, opening tours across Great Britain and Europe. Myra then reassembled Halsall, Freeman, and the Horizons personnel for her second Gondwana album, Rising, issued in May 2024.
Born Jasmine Whalley in Leeds, she grew up with a jazz-pianist father whose extensive record collection surrounded her. She began on violin in primary school before switching to saxophone in high school, at which point she committed to music as a vocation. Early listening centered on Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, and the wider jazz lineage. School activities included pickup groups in the music room, the school jazz band, the school orchestra, and the Leeds Youth Jazz Rock Orchestra.
She enrolled at Leeds College of Music to study jazz composition and performance, joined numerous ensembles there, and performed with the quartet Têtes de Pois—guitarist Ben Haskins, keyboardist George MacDonald, electric bassist Owen Burns, and drummer George Hall—which later became the quintet known as Jasmine. The group worked regularly in Leeds and Manchester and appeared in London alongside Nubya Garcia. Myra also attended Leeds Conservatoire and performed in instructor Rob Mitchell’s jazz-hip-hop ensemble Abstract Orchestra.
In 2018 she launched a crowd-funding effort to document original material with the quintet. The resulting nine-track EP Bring to Light appeared on Tight Lines in 2019, fusing jazz, hip-hop, and electronica; critics, bookers, and DJs responded positively, and Jazz North Introduces selected the band for its 2018/2019 program, which placed the group on six northern jazz festivals. When global lockdown began in 2020, Myra countered isolation by writing for a larger ensemble. She drew on the example of Kenny Wheeler—especially Windmill Tilter, Gnu High, Deer Wan, and Music for Large & Small Ensembles—to broaden her harmonic language with classical instrumentation. After restrictions eased, she tested the expanded format in rehearsal and performance. Matthew Halsall heard the results, signed her to Gondwana, and the core nonet was assembled with Anna Chandler on soprano saxophone, Jasper Green on keyboards, acoustic bassists Gavin Barras and Sam Quintana, and percussionist Greg Burns; Haskins and Hall returned from the earlier EP. Harpist Alice Roberts, violinists Isabella Baker and Lisa Natsuno, violist Elizabeth Lister, and cellist Lizzie Elliot completed the lineup. Horizons, released that July, abandoned hip-hop for denser, more organic textures and broader melodic lines. International acclaim followed, opening tours across Great Britain and Europe. Myra then reassembled Halsall, Freeman, and the Horizons personnel for her second Gondwana album, Rising, issued in May 2024.
Albums
