Jazz by Josie

Josephine Ala is an aspiring jazz trumpet player from Windsor, Ontario. She picked up the trumpet at age ten after hearing the sounds of Chet Baker, Miles Davis and Louis Prima. Though her musical roots are as a classically trained pianist, she discovered Detroit’s jazz scene four years ago and hasn’t looked back since. She is an alumnus of the Detroit Civic Youth Ensembles, to which she accredits her greatest musical influence. She has played alongside the Civic Youth Jazz Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra where she was able to come out of her shell and discover her true passion for the trumpet. She is currently in her sophomore year at the University of Michigan where she studies jazz trumpet, and recently performed at the Detroit Jazz Festival with the University of Michigan Jazz Ensemble. Her goals for the coming year are to expand her own repertoire of music and to find more opportunities to play alongside her peers and influences in Detroit.