NYC flautist, composer, and bandleader Jamie Baum was introduced to music by her parents, who frequently made the trip from their home in Connecticut to check out jazz in the city. Following in her mother’s footsteps (she studied piano and trombone at Julliard, and Baum attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. As part of the Third Stream program, she took courses on both classical and jazz. When she began making music of her own, these and other influences (e.g., Brazilian music) informed her sound.

As she began to focus her attentions on jazz, she came under the tutelage of Jaki Byard, the multi-instrumentalist (though best known for piano) who was known for his mastery of wide-ranging styles within jazz, like ragtime, stride, and free jazz. She later formed the Yard Byard Project, a collective of musicians that explored many of Byard’s compositions.

After receiving a Master’s degree in Jazz from the Manhattan School of Music, she became an educator herself, joining the school’s faculty and also teaching at the New School’s Manne School of Music.

In 1999, she created the Jamie Baum Septet, thus far releasing six albums as a leader. The latest, What Times Are These, about which All That Jazz raved, “she reaffirms her position as a first-rate composer with a vast imagination.”