Ashlae Blume is a vocalist, accordionist, pianist and composer based out of New Orleans, Louisiana. She has traveled the world singing, playing and writing music, and draws from a variety of cultures for creative and technical inspiration. In addition to jazz and black American music, her rhythmic and harmonic sense has primarily been influenced by music from the Balkans, the Near East, Africa, Brazil, and Appalachia.
Musical philosophy: “I think of music as movement through a series of sensory landscapes. Colors, smells, shapes, wind, light, and shadow. If we treat life as a journey through time, we can treat music as moving poetry to describe experience. We share and relive our adventures with others, traveling together along the same path if only for a short while. Music is a fundamental human need, an indescribable urge. Hopefully the force that unites us to seek music will help us in our search for mutual understanding and compassion.”