Julia Keefe

Julia Keefe on Mildred Bailey, Indigenous Big Band and Navigating Misogyny

Julia Keefe (Nez Perce) is an internationally acclaimed Native American jazz vocalist, actor, activist, and educator currently based in New York City. You’ll hear how her Indigenous Big Band project started, the history behind jazz in Native American communities and inspiration from Delbert Anderson to Jim Pepper. A special influence in her life has been Mildred Bailey and you’ll be hearing some clips from Julia’s Mildred Bailey Project album throughout this podcast; the track names are in the timestamps. Mildred was a very important figure in jazz and Julia is also working on a film about her life and career. Julia spoke about some of the sexual harassment she has experienced and how she was affected by the experience of sexual assault by a professor when she was in graduate school. She opened up about how she got through that time with the support of her vocal teacher Jo Lawry . In the shadow of this challenging time, Julia shared some fascinating specifics into how her  voice teachers Jo,  Theo Bleckmann  and also Kate McGarry helped push her artistic and expressive boundaries, and later what a  transformative experience it was to be mentored by Esperanza Spalding. 

Julia’s identity as an Indigenous jazz musician shapes her creative life in so many affirming and inspirational ways; I’m so happy to share this meaningful conversation with you.

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Julia Keefe Website Indigenous Big Band Video Jim Pepper’s “Water” photo: Don Hamilton

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Linked episodes: the Ojibway trumpet player Chuck Copenace, the Cherokee cultural activist and songwriter Agalisiga Mackey,  Vahn Black with her Gladys Bentley project, Renée Yoxon a nonbinary and disabled gender-affirming voice teacher and jazz musician, and Naomi Moon Siegel the  jazz trombone player who has advocated for intersectional gender justice for many years through her workshops for fellow educators and music students, among so many episodes since 2021 Complete Catalog of Episodes