Ella Grace is an award-winning performer, composer, and educator based in Boston, MA. Born in Georgia, Ella's musical upbringing began in Minnesota where she was heralded as “ultra-talented” (Twin Cities Jazz Festival) before relocating to Chicago in 2021. A Jazz Education Network Jamey Aebersold Scholar, Ella earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies summa cum laude from DePaul University in 2025. After winning the Chicago Music Scene Fellowship, Ella released her debut album as a leader, Figments, in March 2026 on Shifting Paradigm Records to great acclaim. Figments has been called "an impressively together album that announces Ella Grace as a composer and bandleader as well as a trumpeter whose name should go well beyond the Windy City" (Jazzwise).

 

Ella leads multiple ensembles of various styles within the contemporary jazz umbrella performing her original compositions. Jazzwise says Ella has "a clear-eyed compositional approach that understands the jazz legacy with smart arrangements." Ella has performed at some of America's most established jazz venues including the Green Mill, Jazz Showcase, Andy's Jazz Club, Dakota, Berlin, Noce, Astor Club, and the Blue Room, as well as many of the country's largest concert halls. Ella has also performed at festivals across the country such as the Chicago Jazz Festival, Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Taste of Minnesota, and Washington Women in Jazz Festival. As a side-woman, Ella has experience performing many styles including jazz, classical, r&b, pop, rock, funk, fusion, salsa, cumbia, merengue, samba, ambient, and more. Ella has performed with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and toured internationally with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

 

Ella is also a passionate jazz educator, maintaining a robust private studio and teaching masterclasses and summer camps across the country to help foster the next generation of jazz musicians. Ella serves on faculty for the University of North Texas Jazz Combo Workshop, Shell Lake Jazz Camp, Birch Creek Jazz Camp, Stillwater Summer Jazz Clinic, and Marine Science & Art Camp.

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Aside from performing and composing, Ella is deeply passionate about furthering gender equity in jazz and recently completed a thesis project on the subject, which won the first place Sloane Prize in Undergraduate Research at the 2024 National Collegiate Honors Conference. She has presented her research on gender equity in jazz at the Jazz Education Network Conference, Chicago Women’s History Conference, Chicago Undergraduate Research Symposium, and DePaul Honors Research Conference. Ella also enjoys contributing to music journalism, and you can find some of her writing on Substack. To learn more about what Ella is up to, sign up for her weekly newsletter here!