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Date: 12/28/2022
LONGMEADOW – Jazz singer and Longmeadow native Hailey Brinnel has finished 2022 with recognition of her music on two prestigious lists: Temple University’s 30 Under 30 to Watch and Spotify’s Best Vocal Jazz of 2022.
“Jazz is my main genre – straight ahead jazz,” which is reminiscent of swing music that was popular in the 30s and 40s, said Brinnel.
Brinnel, who sings and plays the trombone, released her first full-length album, “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” in March 2021 and has put out three singles. One of them, a jazz arrangement of The Beatles’ song, “I’ll Follow the Sun,” took off on Spotify and landed her on the 2022 list of Best Vocal Jazz.
“It was so surreal,” she said. “It was the only thing I had recorded at our home studio and that’s what people went for.”
Temple University in Philedelphia has also recognized Brinnel’s work and talent by naming her one of its “30 Under 30,” a list of Temple Graduates who are making “vital” contributions to their fields of communities.
“[Being on the list] means a lot, because it’s not just musicians, it’s professionals of all kinds,” Brinnel said. “Sometimes, other professionals can seem to be valued more [than music], so to have them select a jazz musician means a lot.”
Brinnel will have a single out in each of the first two months of the new year, followed by her second album, “Beautiful Tomorrow” in March 2023 through the Outside in Music record label. A tour of several states will coincide with the album release, with a stop at the Side Door Jazz Club in Old Lyme, CT, being the closest location to Brinnel’s hometown. She will also perform at venues in Pennsylvania, Michigan and New York.
“Beautiful Tomorrow,” features traditional jazz songs arranged in unexpected ways, as well as pop songs that receive a jazz transformation, Brinnel said. “It’s fun to take those songs I grew up with and give them a different style.” She joked, “Hopefully, the Spotify gods will be good to me.”
The album also features Brinnel’s first two original songs.
“It’s so new to me,” the musician said of writing her own music. “It feels more vulnerable. The knowledge that it’s all me out there is a little intimidating.” Brinnel said she has struggled a little with writing lyrics. Her brother gave her advice to write as though the song is about someone else, which makes it less intimate.
Brinell’s song writing sometimes comes from an emotional place, but more often begins as an “earworm” that she will play around with until it becomes a fully fledged song.
Now a teacher at the University of Arts in Philidelphia and the educational program coordinator for instrumental jazz programs at the Kimmel Center, Brinnel, who graduated from Longmeadow High School in 2013, reflected on her musical beginnings. “LPS has such a strong music program. A lot of it just comes down to the foundations I learned in Longmeadow Public Schools,” she told Reminder Publishing.