Take Five with singer-songwriter-pianist EBBA

Meet EBBA

NYC-based Swedish singer-songwriter-pianist EBBA is reshaping what it means to be a jazz artist in 2025. A Berklee Presidential Scholar and recent graduate, she moves fluidly between jazz sophistication and raw, modern songwriting, carving out a sound that's fearless and arrestingly original. Fresh off the road with Jon Batiste, adding keys and vocals to his global tour and his latest album Big Money, EBBA has proven she can hold her own alongside one of music's most adventurous voices. She co-writes and performs with New York outfit Dana and Alden (Concord Jazz), flexing her range across genres. EBBA is featured on the forthcoming Talking Heads tribute album Naive Melodies, joining an eclectic lineup that includes Aja Monet, Bilal and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Her contribution reimagines the iconic band through her hybrid of jazz fluency, Scandinavian sensitivity, and contemporary edge. Now splitting time between New York and Los Angeles, EBBA is crafting her debut album with heavyweight producers Aidan Spiro (Heavy Duty Music), Tim Anderson (Julius Rodriguez, Solange) and Homer Steinweiss (El Michels, Clairo). With instincts, magnetic stage presence, and a refusal to stay in one lane, EBBA is emerging as one of the boldest new voices in jazz and beyond.

Instruments:

I started playing piano at 6 years old but it wasn't until I was 15 I knew I wanted to pursue music as a career. I've always been singing, mostly in choirs and I loved singing and accompanying myself on the piano. My friends went to this orchestra camp during the summers and I wanted to go too so I started playing trumpet and joined a big band. This is where I was introduced to jazz and where I fell in love with the music. Piano was always my main instrument and I haven't picked up the horn in a couple of years but big band music and the horn is still a big part of my upbringing in music and jazz. 

Teachers and/or influences?

I've been in music education my whole life and I'm so grateful for all my teachers throughout the years both back in Sweden and at Berklee College of Music where I went to school for Jazz piano and Jazz Composition. I had the pleasure to study with JoAnne Brackeen, Alain Mallet, Terri Lyne Carrington, Matt Stevens and Ian Froman at Berklee and I'm honored to have been learning so much from them. My favorite pianists are Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Thelonious Monk and I never get tired of listening to and learning their music. Some songwriting inspirations I have are Joni Mitchell and her lyrical, intricate and beautiful melodies but also more modern songwriters like Adrienne Lenker and Laura Marling. I've been growing up with a lot of Swedish artists like Veronica Maggio, Salem Al Fakir and Laleh and they have been important influences on my music. 

I knew I wanted to be a musician when...

I was 15 years old and I saw a band of kids a couple of years older than me play this Cannonball Adderley song "Walk Tall" that I loved and the girl playing the trumpet was so cool and sounded so good and I decided that I was gonna try to get in to the same program as them and pursue music seriously. 

Your sound and approach to music.

I love music that has lyrical and simple melodies with some kind of subtle, weird thing happening at the same time. It could be harmonic dissonance or weird rhythms or an unusual form that makes you excited and curious. I'm trying to write music in that vein and I would describe my writing/composing style as accessible but has some quirky elements to it. 

Road story: Your best or worst experience

I played at the Molde Jazz Festival with Dana and Alden on the west coast in Norway in the summer of 2025 and the weather was amazing. After the gig we went to take a swim in the fjord at 2 am and it was still light out. It was a magical tour moment for me where I got to show my bandmates Scandinavia in prime time.

Favorite venue

I had the pleasure of playing Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado twice in 2025 and it's definitely the most beautiful venue I've played in. The first time I played there was with Dana and Alden opening for Remi Wolf in April and I was doing my last year at Berklee College of Music at the same time and I remember writing a paper about Michelagelo's David for an art history class in the green room after soundcheck. The second time was with Jon Batiste in September and I did an improvised vocal intro to open the show while Jon was coming down from the middle of the audience. Usually this intro is about 2-3 minutes long but because it took a lot longer for him to get down all the stairs and my intro ended up being 10 minutes long. I'll never forget the view from the stage, playing music you love while looking at the audience standing between the powerful red rocks. 

What do you think is the most important thing you are contributing musically?

I love comping and I try to complement and support the soloist in the best way I can by listening and being creative without taking up too much space. I've never been a player that plays tons of notes and I think it's a strength musically that I try to give needed space in the music. I believe and hope that it makes my ideas stronger and more powerful.

The first jazz album I bought was:

The first jazz album I remember being introduced to when I started out with jazz piano was a Swedish pianist called Lars Jansson and his album In Search of Lost Time from 2009. It's a beautiful trio record of his original music and it has influenced me a lot. 

Music you are listening to now:

Flanafi: sixth night. sleepless. you naked the world. wallowing. (Boiled Records, 2023)
The Japanese House: In the End It Always Does (Dirty Hit, 2023)
Evan Wright: Spaghetti Western (Self Produced, 2018)
Judee Sill: Judee Sill (Asylum, 1971)
Pino Palladino, Blake Mills: That Wasn't A Dream (Blake Mills Label, 2025)

Desert Island picks:

Miles Davis Quintet: The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 (Sony, 1995)
Veronica Maggio: Satan i Gatan (Universal Music, 2011)
Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now (Reprise, 2000)
Thelonious Monk: At The Blackhawk (Riverside, 1960)
Nina Simone: 'Nuff Said! (RCA Victor, 1968)

How would you describe the state of jazz today?

I think the jazz scene is in a very interesting state, constantly developing and I'm excited to be living in New York during these times because of all the good music happening here. I think Immanuel Wilkins' collaboration with the vocalists June McDoom and Cecile McLorin Salvant are beautiful and inspiring and I love the jazz coming out of LA with musicians like Sam Wilkes, Josh Johnson and Sam Gendel. 

What is in the near future?

I've been working on an album the past year together with Aidan Spiro in LA that hopefully will be out later this year. I'm constantly writing new material and I'm so excited to perform my new songs around the city with my band. I'm really happy to have some of my favorite musicians playing with me (Salim Charvet, Emmanuel Michael, Noam Tanzer and Maliq Wynn) and we're recording a live session that will be out on Youtube later this spring.  

What's the song or piece of music you wish you could hear again for the first time?

I would love to hear Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" again for the first time. It's one of my favorite songs and the arrangement by Vince Mendoza is my all time favorite.  

Comments