Bria Skonberg

The Chilliwack-born trumpeter and singer made her reputation with her obvious stylistic debt to Louis Armstrong. When she got to New York, she seemed a gleeful anachronism, a young woman at home in the most venerable jazz traditions. She quickly found work designing educational programs for Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Louis Armstrong House Museum. Lately her music has been harder to categorize, closer to alternative pop than jazz, at least until the trumpet solos start. But her bright personality and positive attitude shine regardless of idiom.

- written by Paul Wells