Chloe Louise Brisson

Chloe Louise Brisson is a vocalist and songwriter who “always gets to the heart of a song and conveys basic human emotions without resorting to excess of any kind” (All About Jazz). Her musical world is rooted in American folk traditions and shaped by a deep foundation and education in jazz.

Brisson attended both the New England Conservatory of Music, where she won the DownBeat Student Music Award for Best Undergraduate Jazz Vocalist; and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, where she received the 2019 Fellowship. As the vocalist for Ralph Peterson’s Gen-Next Big Band, she appeared on the album Listen Up!, which won the Rising Star Big Band category in the 68th Annual DownBeat Critics Poll. During her time in school Brisson also participated in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency program at the Kennedy Center and performed at several festivals including the Panama Jazz Festival, the Jazz Over The Volga Festival, and the DC Jazz Fest.

In 2019, Brisson took part in The Arctic Circle Art and Science Residency, an expedition that took place aboard a tall ship in the high Arctic of Svalbard. This transformational experience inspired a songwriting practice centered on storytelling, exploring themes of human experience and struggle within the natural world. Following her time in the Arctic, she spent three years in the woods of Vermont working in a maple sugaring operation — gathering both life experience and stories along the way. Her original music has been thoroughly informed by these experiences, often featuring themes of human struggle and triumph, our ties to place and nature, and political issues of our time. Her sound reflects her rural roots in the storytelling traditions and lyrical truth most often found in folk and roots music, while retaining echoes of her education in jazz.

Now back in music with renewed enthusiasm and tales to share, Brisson lives in Brooklyn, NY, where she performs and teaches.