Name: Rachel Eckroth
Nationality: American
Occupation: Pianist, composer, improviser, singer, songwriter
Current Release: Rachel Eckroth's new album Speaking in Tongues with John hadfield, is out via Adhyâropa.
Current event: Rachel Eckroth will perform with her trio at Ronnie Scott's October 15th 2025. For more information and tickets, visit the Ronnie Scott's website.
Shoutouts: Pete Min, a studio owner and engineer in Los Angeles has a small record label called Colorfield Records that is putting out some interesting, innovative music right now.
Recommendation for Phoenix, USA: I’d recommend taking the trip up to the Grand Canyon of course. But if you’re looking for music, the Nash, Ravenscroft, and Musical Instrument Museum all have great lineups.

If you enjoyed this Rachel Eckroth interview and would like to know more about her music and upcoming live dates, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, and Facebook.



What were some of the musical experiences which planted a seed for your interest in jazz?

I was in the jazz ensemble at my high school and around age 15 I started to learn about jazz harmony and function and how it informs improvisation. Being able to move away from the written notes on the page was really attractive to me, because I was searching for a way to make music on my own.

Also, my father would take my brother and I to see live music in our hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. Watching jazz musicians perform live inspired me greatly.

What does the term jazz mean today, would you say?

Since there are so many subgenres of traditional jazz and so much music that includes improvisation, I think I’d define jazz as music with a more complex harmony than pop or western folk music, a large part of it being improvised, and rhythm that is related to traditional American jazz music in any form.

I leave a lot of room for ‘what is jazz’ in my mind, because at this point, so much music has been informed by the jazz tradition, that it’s difficult to have a strict mindset about it.

As of today, what kind of materials, ideas, and technologies are particularly stimulating for you?

I’m completely into synthesis and sound design, so I get a lot of inspiration for composition that way.

Although I started writing with pencil and paper at the beginning, I do appreciate being able to record ideas with a computer before or without writing them down.

Where do most of your inspirations to create come from – rather from internal impulses or external ones? Which current social / political / ecological or other developments make you feel like you need to respond as an artist?

I get inspired by other musicians mostly. I like to listen to as much varied music as I can, soak it up, and see how it influences my next endeavors.

I am always thinking about social and political events, but I don’t necessarily try to evoke that in my writing - it’s more reactive I suppose. I feel that playing music and being an artist is a form of protest in some way, because it’s really about freedom of speech and expression.

We don’t have to play by a set of rules in art and as long as artists are pushing boundaries, we have some sort of freedom.

Tell me a bit about the sounds & creative directions, artists & communities, as well as the colleagues & creative hotspots of your current hometown, please. How do they influence your music?

I recently moved back to my hometown, Phoenix, Arizona. While there are a lot of good musicians here, the jazz scene is pretty small. Fortunately, there are a couple like minded musicians that I get to create with on a regular basis.

Corcoran Holt, who is a legendary bassist from Washington DC, is now the head of the Jazz Bass department at Arizona State University. He has really inspired me to get back to my straight ahead jazz roots. He truly embodies what it means to be a jazz musician, and inspires excellence in everyone around him.

We play a few times a week in Phoenix when we are both around, notably at the Nash Jazz club, which is named after the incredible drummer Lewis Nash who is a Phoenician like me.

What role do electronic tools and instruments play for your creative process?

I guess this is a similar answer to the above - any effects pedals I can get my hands on, keyboards and recording software/plugins make it really easy and fun to come up with things that I wouldn’t think of at an acoustic piano. It’s fun to try and emulate electronics on acoustic instruments.

Most of my recording projects have been heavy on the electronic instruments and sounds. My Grammy nominated album from 2021, The Garden, is mainly that - a huge palate of texture and color from synths and effects pedals, and experimentation with plug-ins during the mixing process.



Thanks to technological advances, collaboration has become a lot easier. What have been some of the most fruitful collaborations for you recently and what approaches to and modes of collaboration currently seem best to you?

Most recently, I have been collaborating with a drummer, percussionist and composer who lives in France, John Hadfield. We recorded an album called Speaking In Tongues last year together in Greece, which was mainly acoustic.

After the initial session, we went back to our respective homes and finished the music by adding synths and electronic elements. The result was a very interesting mix of the acoustic and the electric.

We also made a side project called ‘The Saints of Paris’ which was more electronic based, and was strictly a long distance collaboration. We were able to put out two EPs with that configuration.



Jazz has always had an interesting relationship between honouring its roots and exploring the unknown. What does the balance between these two poles look like in your music?

Since my music spans over varied genres, I think there is a pretty even balance between the roots of jazz and the unknown. My discography as a solo artist ranges from acoustic solo piano to jazz trio to singer songwriter music.

As an improviser, I tend to play in whatever way the style of music dictates, but always keeping the tradition in mind.

How much potential for something “new” is there still in jazz? What could this “new” look like?

There is always infinite potential for something new in jazz. As long as humans exist, they will keep creating.

New could be modern grooves mixed with jazz - we tend to see this in every generation. There could be new electronic technology in instruments.

It seems like the way the world is heading with AI and general social change, musicians may have to adapt to playing in a new environment with a different type of audience. All these factors will bring out innovations in jazz.

For many artists, life-changing musical experiences take place live. How do you see that yourself?

I guess when I’m able to bring new projects to an audience and receive a positive response, it helps me know that I’m on the right track. That inspires confidence, which inspires creativity.

The live situation is really a give and take between artist and audience. I can’t imagine making music and never performing it in some way.

How, would you say are your live performances and your recording projects connected at the moment? How do they mutually influence and feed off each other?

I’m someone who likes to have a few different projects or bands going at once, so I think of it all more like stepping stones or steps on a ladder. One thing feeds into the next.

I learn from every live gig, writing project, collaboration, practice time, recording session - and take what I’ve discovered right into the next thing.

Ímprovisation is obviously an essential element of jazz, but I would assume that just like composition, it is transforming. How do you feel has the role of improvisation changed in jazz?

I don’t think the role of improvisation has changed - it’s the most important part of jazz.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to improvisation?

I look at my improvisational ideas in the context of shape.

I know plenty of theory and harmony which informs my playing greatly, but I think I focus more on rhythmic intention and intervallic movement more than linear ideas.

I always say there are no rules to improvisation.

The Montreux Festival intends to preserve its archive of recordings for future generations. Do you personally feel it's important that everything should remain available forever - or is there something to be said for letting beautiful moments pass and linger in the memories of those that experienced them?

History is important. I think it’s good to archive, and if people want to listen to something in 20 years, so be it.

I think the bigger challenge will be to get younger generations interested in the music, and just generally interested in researching and finding new things for themselves.