Aubrey Johnson Group Album Release Show at Birdland Jazz Club

Renowned New York-based Jazz vocalist and composer Aubrey Johnson celebrates the highly-anticipated release of her third studio album, The Lively Air, on trumpeter Dave Douglas' Greenleaf Music. Aubrey's unique ensemble, featuring Tomoko Omura (violin), Alex LoRe (bass clarinet/alto sax/flute), Chris McCarthy (piano), Matt Aronoff (bass), and Jay Sawyer (drums), who built their sound in recent years through grants from Chamber Music America and South Arts, will perform Aubrey's "strikingly original" and "genre-expanding" compositions and arrangements. Produced by Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group) and mixed/mastered by Rich Breen (Yellow Jackets, Dianne Reeves, Billy Childs), The Lively Air has been lauded as "a record competitive with the very best I've heard", by Grammy-winning producer and broadcast executive Al Pryor. In addition to her own compositions, the album features compositions by Tomoko Omura, Lyle Mays, Joni Mitchell, and Kurt Elling. 

Aubrey's debut record, Unraveled, featuring her original music and arrangements was released on Outside In Music in 2020 to critical acclaim. Play Favorites, her duo album with the pianist Randy Ingram was released on Sunnyside Records in 2022. Among the 50+ albums Aubrey has appeared on as a sideperson are Bobby McFerrin’s Grammy-nominated release, VOCAbuLaries, Arturo O'Farrill's Grammy Award-winning Four Questions, and Lyle Mays’ Grammy Award-winning Eberhard (on which she also served as executive producer.)

Aubrey has received composition and touring grants from Chamber Music America and South Arts, respectively, and was awarded fellowships in music composition by UCross and MacDowell artist residencies. Most recently, she released a collaborative album on Sunnyside Records with Dave Douglas, Helen Sung, and lyricistthe David Hajdu—The Lives Of Saints, to which she contributed as both a composer and vocalist. Aubrey's performing and teaching has taken her throughout the US and Canada, Central America, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and China. She has performed at The Kennedy Center, The Blue Note, Birdland, Kaufman Music Center, Dizzy's, National Sawdust, and more. Aubrey holds faculty positions in the jazz voice programs at The New School and Montclair State University and previously held positions at the New England Conservatory (her alma mater) and Berklee College of Music.