Name: Rebecca Vasmant
Nationality: French, Glasgow-based
Occupation: Composer, producer, DJ, curator, musician
Current release: Rebecca Vasmant's new album Who We Are, Becoming is out May 9th 2025 via Women in Jazz x New Soil.  
Recommendation for Glasgow, Scotland: Glasgow Jazz Festival!
Shout-outs: I would have to say Gilles Peterson and his events and festivals. He has done so much for the UK Jazz scene, brought so many new artists through and helped them to have their music heard where they would perhaps otherwise not have the opportunity to. I really respect everything he has done and continues to do for Jazz, the genre and its growth in popularity and new music being created out of the UK.
Things I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: Outside of music, I love being around horses.
I also love to learn about things related to science and the universe, in particular quantum physics and the power of the mind, as well as modern medical science (I sometimes get lost in watching documentaries and end up awake all night watching things at the end of my day).
I really love nice food and always try as many different foods as I can when travelling.
I like to collect shoes: In particular trainers and also handmade English loafers and brogues, I love to shop in charity shops for interesting clothes like tweed and vintage dresses.
I love my teddies that I have had all my life - one of them comes everywhere with me.
I love to people watch and imagine what the stories of all the lives walking by are, that really interests me. I guess I am interested in people, and sound and music as well as science. That would summarie my interests.

If you enjoyed this Rebecca Vasmant interview and would like to know more, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, and bandcamp.



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

For me, I became fascinated with Jazz from a young age through being shown Hip Hop by my big brother who would travel to the US to Skateboard a his job.

I was absolutely obsessed with the samples, and later realised that it wasn’t the beats and electronic elements in the music that I loved, it was the Jazz.

From that point grew an insatiable appetite to learn about Jazz, new records I had never heard before, new musicians, labels, how they record and everything about it.

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

Plain and simple: emotion. How I feel, or what emotion and message I put back into music makes it Jazz for me.

I was always fascinated and still am, by the concept of a deep meaning being in a song with no words and just coming from the way musicians play their instruments. It's all a journey of mind and emotion for me, Jazz.

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

To me, seeing shows, travelling, being around people I love and having experiences that take me outside of my comfort zone is what inspires me.

I am a firm believer in love, experiences and life shaping how we make our music, what it sounds like and of course what the music is about.

Music has become a lot more global, and incorporating elements from other parts of the world or the musical spectrum is commonplace. Do you still think there are city scenes with a distinct, unique sound? How does your local scene influence your work?

Over the past 5-10 years, there has been a huge rise here in young kids being open to hearing this Jazz in clubs, and Jazz gigs have been doing really well, selling out and being really largely filled with young people who want to have a party, but to this music instead of house and techno only.

People are really starting to jump on it, I was approached by 3 documentaries and one movie just in the last year, plus the gigs have been selling out here now too. I feel like Glasgow gets a lot of attention for its rich electronic scene, but there is also this Jazz scene bubbling just now that's becoming insanely awesome.



The long and short of it is: I think that there's something really amazing / interesting and different happening here in the Glasgow Jazz scene and I feel really passionate about helping other people be able to hear it.

This massively influences my work and is the whole reason for making music how I do: as collaborative records with some of the cities amazing young talent.

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

My process is something along the lines of seeing music as a soundscape and a bed of emotions. I put together my tracks in accordance to how I feel, what emotions I want to put into the track and what it's about.

I would usually put together the base of the track with MIDI parts, arrangement and chords / keys etc, then get together with the vocalist on the track and write the lyrics together in a brainstorm session. We then record lots and lots of takes of lead and backings, I go away and arrange how I feel sounds right. From there, I would replace out the midi drums with real drums, keys samples from my Jazz records with real keys and so on.

It's a bit of a journey where it feels so exciting to create something from an idea in my head, onto paper and into a real song. It really is a beautiful process and I honestly enjoy that part of it so much.

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?

Absolutely all of the collaborations I have done have been fruitful and I am honestly so grateful to be working with all of the musicians on my music that I have been working with.

We get together and record and write in person and those days are some of the happiest and most openly creative days I have spent in my life, for which I am extremely grateful.

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?

To me, Jazz is such an interesting and constantly evolving form of music. We now have young people incorporating their love of Hip Hop, Afrobeat, Drum and bass and lots more types of electronic music into their Jazz.

I think that bringing in new and modern styles into Jazz is what’s keeping it moving forward and after all, progress is growth and Jazz as a genre only seems to be growing stronger!

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

I have had many life changing experiences, many shows that I have seen have changed my life and one in particular: the first time I saw Taylor McFerrin play at Glasgow Jazz Festival in 2015 was the reason I decided I wanted to make electronic music with Jazz musicians and perform it live.

I guess you could say that show changed my life and moved me into this trajectory of producing and working with musicians in the collaborative way that I do.

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?

When I sit down to make a pice of music, I really try not to let anything influence me at that moment of time but of course this is not always possible.

I feel that the love I have for all different kinds of music does come across in my own productions, for example the house that I am working on at the moment has lots of warm elements, I take samples from Jazz records which I love and mess around with them, I take parts from pieces of music that I love and use them as a building block to create something new.

I am working on a track at the moment in which I take a small sample from one of my favorite records of all time: Stan Tracey Quartet - "Starless and Bible Black."



It has turned into a house track and I intended for it to be something electronic with no drums in there.

Things turn out very different sometimes to how you imagine they will be when you sit down to start work on something, and I think this is the beauty of making music. You sometimes surprise yourself!

The Montreux Festival intends to preserve its archive of recordings for future generations. Do you personally feels 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?

Oh I think its so very important to keep everything available forever. It’s almost a museum and a way to look back at the history of how the music evolves. I know for me, I have learned so much about this music I love so much because of things like Montreaux festival shows that you can listen to and watch online.

Music really is a privilege and I can honestly say that deep within my heart I am totally grateful for every piece of amazing music that I have been lucky enough to have been able to hear. If it were not for things like archives, we would miss so much music that we would otherwise not get to hear.

I realise that even if we spent every waking minute of every day searching for music, we would not have enough time to discover it all. And this thought is overwhelming.

I thank every musician, composer, maestro and producer for every piece of music whether it has been noticed or unnoticed and wake up every day happy to be able to just take the time to just listen and appreciate music.