Skrontch Music

A new Skrontch Music recording is on the way! Recorded in February 2022, we are currently in post-production, generously supported by grants from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and the Threadhead Cultural Foundation.

Skrontch Music is an 11-piece large ensemble dedicated to new music that explores the histories of the formation of jazz in New Orleans through contemporary composition and collective improvisation. Featuring a diverse cross-section of New Orleans' creative music scene, the debut Skrontch Music recording was released to critical acclaim on New Orleans' Sinking City Records in October 2019.

The album was researched and composed during a 2016 artist residency at A Studio In The Woods and incorporates elements of sound collage and text from primary source documents to address the intertwined lineages of the formation of New Orleans jazz and anti-Jim Crow activism. The recording was generously supported by grants from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and the Puffin Foundation.

In March 2020, Skrontch Music embarked on its debut tour, playing shows across the Deep South, including at the Center for the Study of the South at the University of Mississippi. The tour was funded by an inaugural Jazz Road touring grant from South Arts.

Skrontch Music ensemble members and collaborators include:

Paul Thibodeaux - drums
James Singleton - bass
Steve Glenn - sousaphone
Oscar Rossignoli - piano
Emily Frederickson - trombone
Shaye Cohn - cornet
Reagan Mitchell - reeds
Aurora Nealand - reeds
Ricardo Pascal - reeds
Peter Bowling - electronics

Ricio Fruge - trumpet
Jenna McSwain - piano
Martin Masakowski - bass
Rex Gregory - reeds
Tomas Majcherski - reeds
Michael Torregano Jr. - piano
Emily Mikesell - trumpet
Dan Oestereicher - reeds
Jason Mingledorff - reeds
Brent Rose - reeds
Brad Walker - reeds
Justin Peake - electronics/production

Previous Skrontch Performances include:

University of Mississippi, Center for the Study of the South, Oxford, MS
Rudy’s Jazz Room, Nashville, TN
AND Gallery, Jackson, MS
Church of the Sacred Ear, Grand Coteau, LA
Jazz Now concert series, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation
Snug Harbor, New Orleans
Shape of Jazz to Come, Sound Observatory New Orleans
The Broadside, New Orleans
Marigny Opera House, New Orleans
A Studio In The Woods Forestival, New Orleans
New Orleans Jazz Museum
Xavier University, New Orleans