Aug 24, 2026 · 35 min · 10 segments
Juno Award-winning artist, vocalist and trumpeter Bria Skonberg, shares the breadth of her vocal expression on her latest release ‘Indigo’, the anticipated partner to ‘Brass’, her earlier 2026…
Bria SkonbergGuestAlan ScottHostSo before we dive into the album, and I'd like to go through it because I was really impressed with not only the personnel on the album, your choice of song list, but so many other aspects of it that I think make it a standout.
If you don't mind, I'd like to talk a little bit about yourself because I'm curious about some of your influences.
First of all, where does jazz come into the picture for you? I know you started out studying piano when you were in elementary school, but then you got involved in the trumpet in high school.
Well, I grew up in a town of Chilliwack with a great public school band program.
They did a really good job of incorporating the youth in what was the local jazz festival.
And it's interesting to know where to start this story because as I got into jazz, I had the same questions.
People would say, how did you get into jazz? And as I got older, I said, well, how did jazz get to me in Chilliwack, D.C.? And without going too far down that rabbit hole, There was a whole resurgence, revival of classic traditional early styles of jazz in the 1940s and 50s up and down the west coast in the San Francisco area.
that led to a whole culture of jazz societies, of which Chilliwack started one as well.
And so what that meant for me is that professional musicians would come to Chilliwack and perform and my middle school jazz band would also get to perform, and then I would be able to see them live.
You know, the Jazz Lincoln Center Orchestra, Herbie Hancock, they were not making stops in Chilliwack at that time, so these local luminaries were my heroes and my mentors, and it was a very giving, wonderful culture.
So that paired with Honestly, just joining the jazz band at school, playing some swinging music, watching the older kids have more fun.
I have an older brother and an older sister that also played instruments, and my brother in particular was selected to be in some of the pop bands for saxophone.
I mean, you wouldn't know it now, but I feel like I was pretty shy as a kid, especially when it came to singing.
But through playing with the school band and having performance experience and just creating a group of friends in the band program,
So before we dive into the album, and I'd like to go through it because I was really impressed with not only the personnel on the album, your choice of song list, but so many other aspects of it that I think make it a standout.
If you don't mind, I'd like to talk a little bit about yourself because I'm curious about some of your influences.
First of all, where does jazz come into the picture for you? I know you started out studying piano when you were in elementary school, but then you got involved in the trumpet in high school.
Well, I grew up in a town of Chilliwack with a great public school band program.
They did a really good job of incorporating the youth in what was the local jazz festival.
And it's interesting to know where to start this story because as I got into jazz, I had the same questions.
People would say, how did you get into jazz? And as I got older, I said, well, how did jazz get to me in Chilliwack, D.C.? And without going too far down that rabbit hole, There was a whole resurgence, revival of classic traditional early styles of jazz in the 1940s and 50s up and down the west coast in the San Francisco area.
that led to a whole culture of jazz societies, of which Chilliwack started one as well.
And so what that meant for me is that professional musicians would come to Chilliwack and perform and my middle school jazz band would also get to perform, and then I would be able to see them live.
You know, the Jazz Lincoln Center Orchestra, Herbie Hancock, they were not making stops in Chilliwack at that time, so these local luminaries were my heroes and my mentors, and it was a very giving, wonderful culture.
So that paired with Honestly, just joining the jazz band at school, playing some swinging music, watching the older kids have more fun.
I have an older brother and an older sister that also played instruments, and my brother in particular was selected to be in some of the pop bands for saxophone.
I mean, you wouldn't know it now, but I feel like I was pretty shy as a kid, especially when it came to singing.
But through playing with the school band and having performance experience and just creating a group of friends in the band program,
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