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• 1 media/Jane Ira Bloom.jpg media/Jane.jpg 2016-04-19T08:32:28-07:00 Jane Ira Bloom: Jazz Chose Me 20 image_header 2016-05-09T20:00:56-07:00          Jane Ira Bloom, a composer and soprano saxophonist, was born in 1955 in Boston, Massachusetts. She began playing music and composing when she was four years old on the piano. Then in middle school she moved on to play and develop an affinity for the Saxophone. Music had been around her home since she was young in the form of records, and she grew up loving music, but she didn’t know that it would be her career and life. She studied as a private student under Joe Viola who taught and gave her access to greater musical experiences. He also gave her the tools to help and spur her improvising and writing of compositions. She then went on to attend Yale, where she furthered her musical experienced and developed a tone that is very unique and special. She was also introduced to the jazz clubs scene and was able to play with many wonderful and significant jazz musicians of the time. It was at Yale, when she realized that,  “It became clear to me that that was the only thing I could do. I didn’t really have a choice. Basically you find out it chooses you” (line 98-100). She then went on to work for a number of both bigger and smaller record labels such as CBS and Arabesque Jazz composing and performing her music.
   
           Most of the music that Bloom composed was influenced by her personal experiences of what was going on while she was writing it. This is clear in her music that she wrote while working with NASA, and also her composition that was NFL themed. While Bloom had an appreciation for the classics; she played the classical compositions with her own twist and she added to the piece. She was an innovator in the industry because she worked to combine new sounds with electronic sounds to create different and creative new style of jazz music. One of the things she loved about Jazz was the freedom to express yourself and make music that is meaningful to you. In that same vain, she believed that music was sacred and that an album should tell a story. The songs that an artist puts out there should be very carefully selected because it must be special, which speaks to the old adage, quality over quantity.
   
           Bloom is an incredibly accomplished woman who has performed at the Kennedy Space Center, Carnegie Hall, the MoMa, and the Einstein Planetarium among many other venues. She has composed music for NASA, films, television shows, and a dance company named Pilobolus. NASA even named an asteroid after her! She has also won a slew of awards such as: 2011 Soprano Saxophone of the Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association, 2007 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz award, Doris Duke/ Chamber Music America Jazz Composition Award 2001, and the Jazz Journalists Association 2006 soprano sax of the year award. She currently lives in NY where she believes that she belongs musically, and continues to perform and compose music.