Ellen Rowe - LYDIALIEBMAN.COM

Vinton's Cove
Release Date: November 21, 2025
Label: Smokin' Sleddog Records

Vinton's Cove, the new album from pianist and composer Ellen Rowe features six original compositions by Rowe, recorded with her quartet and special guest vocalist Sunny Wilkinson, showcasing a range of jazz styles. Drawing on her extensive background as both educator and performer, Rowe also presents arrangements of jazz and pop standards that cast them in a slightly different light, interpreting them through varied harmonic approaches and diverse musical feels. Recorded with close friends and musical kindred spirits, Vinton's Cove represents Rowe's work as both composer and bandleader.

The album's genesis reflects the profound influence of place and community on Rowe's artistic vision. Named after a small cove on Kezar Lake where her family maintains a cabin built in the mid-1950s, Vinton's Cove serves as both geographic anchor and inspiration for several of the original compositions. Rowe, the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan, found herself motivated to create music that could provide "balm for wounded souls" during increasingly challenging times. Several pieces were written at the Maine cabin itself, while others were specifically crafted to showcase the individual voices of her carefully chosen collaborators.

The Ellen Rowe Quartet consists of Rowe on piano and Mike Sakash on soprano and alto saxophone, supported by the dynamic rhythm section of Dennis Carroll on bass and Pete Siers on drums. Vocalist Sunny Wilkinson is featured as a special guest, contributing her unique voice to two of the selections. This ensemble represents both long-standing musical partnerships—Siers has appeared on all but one of Rowe's previous albums—and newer collaborations that have flourished over the past five years. Support from the University of Michigan enabled Rowe to bring Carroll from Chicago and Sakash from New Hampshire for performances throughout the year and the album's recording sessions.

Musically, Vinton's Cove showcases Rowe's versatility as a composer and arranger through a compelling variety of styles—from reflective ballads and slow straight eighth grooves to medium and up-tempo swingers, and samba grooves. Her warm, singing touch on piano—captured using her 1905 rebuilt Steinway that has been in the family since the mid-1940s—serves as the album's unifying thread, while her keen harmonic imagination drives compositions that feel both inevitable and surprising across diverse tempos and moods. The recording took place at Willis Sound in Willis, Michigan, a renovated church featuring Blue Note-style reverb plates in the basement, lending the album a distinctive room sound that enhances its organic, conversational quality.

The album opens with "The Loons of Vinton's Cove," the title track that pays tribute to a pair of Common Loons that return each year to attempt nesting in the cove, despite constant challenges from predators and environmental factors. Rowe, an avid birder, captures both the hope and pathos of these yearly attempts while honoring the "Loon Rangers," volunteers who build floating nests and provide advocacy for the lake's loon population. The piece establishes the album's central theme of resilience and connection to the natural world.

“Refractions" examines the various ways in which light diffuses as it passes through water or a prism, with Rowe translating this physical phenomenon into musical terms, exploring how "a single note can seemingly refract, change color or resolve depending on its harmonic function". Mike Sakash's exquisite soprano saxophone work perfectly captures the piece's contemplative mood and demonstrates the group's commitment to space and transparency.

The album's more playful side emerges in "Clipped In Blues," inspired by Rowe's embarrassing bicycle mishap while standing still, chatting with a neighbor. This blues highlights the ensemble's sense of humor through dynamic interplay and conversational duo interactions.

A highlight of the album is Kenny Wheeler's "Kind Folk," honoring Kenny as one of her musical heroes and featuring Dennis Carroll's bass and Mike Sakash's alto saxophone. Wheeler's influence on Rowe's harmonic thinking can be heard on several of her other compositions, as can the inspiration of pianist Bill Evans.

The album includes two stunning vocal features with Sunny Wilkinson. "The Phoenix"—written in response to complaints from a friend that Rowe only composed "sad songs"—showcases both Wilkinson's gifts as a lyricist as well as her remarkable improvising. The duo performance of "Sylvan Way," the very first composition Rowe committed to paper, and one written at the Maine cabin on Vinton's Cove, celebrates their musical partnership and friendship while featuring lyrics by Wilkinson that perfectly capture the piece’s emotional intent.

Rowe's arrangements of classic material demonstrate her ability to find fresh approaches to familiar territory. Her treatment of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" is undertaken with "great love and respect," while "All The Things You Are" receives a clever twist through Rowe's reversal of the time-honored Parker/Gillespie introduction. The album closes with "I'll Remember April," featuring new harmonic changes contributed by Dennis Carroll that demonstrate the collaborative spirit pervading the entire project.

Ellen Rowe brings impressive credentials to this latest project. The recipient of two named Professorships at the University of Michigan, she maintains an active performance and composition/arrangement career with six albums as a leader to her credit and performances with both her “Momentum” octet and her own quartet at festivals and venues including The Amazonas Jazz Festival in Brazil, Detroit Jazz Festival, Summer Solstice Festival, Dizzy’s Club and the Jazz Education Network Conference. Her compositions and arrangements have been performed by ensembles including the Village Vanguard Orchestra, BBC Jazz Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra and are published by Excelsia, Sierra, Brava and Kendor Publications. Previous albums include "Sylvan Way," "Wishing Well," "Denali Pass," "Courage Music," and 2020’'s "Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion."

With Vinton's Cove, Ellen Rowe has created more than just another jazz album; she has crafted a musical sanctuary that honors both the traditions of jazz piano and the healing power of music. In an era of increasing digital isolation and environmental disconnection, this album serves as a gentle reminder of what we stand to lose—and what music can help us preserve. The Ellen Rowe Quartet doesn't merely perform these compositions; they inhabit them, creating intimate musical conversations that invite listeners into their circle of trust and creativity.

Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion
Release Date: January 28th, 2019
Label: Smokin' Sleddog Records

Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion brings together an ensemble of nationally-lauded female jazz artists including Rowe on piano alongside saxophonists Tia Fuller, Virginia Mayhew and Lisa Parrott, clarinetist Janelle Reichmanon, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, trombonist Melissa Gardiner, bassists Marion Hayden and Marlene Rosenberg and drummer Allison Miller. Each composition on Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion is a tribute to and musical portrait of several iconic female figures across the sectors of music, sports, social justice, environmental advocacy and politics. Rowe draws deserved recognition to her heroes with arrangements orchestrated for varying sizes of chamber jazz ensembles, from quartet to octet.

Amidst their touring schedule, this collective intends to collaborate with young female jazz students from all across the country. Rowe wants to give students the opportunity to play with her band and believes that by doing so, the young musicians will benefit greatly from this mentoring dynamic. The Ellen Rowe Octet will also host discussion groups devoted to issues of gender and sexuality in order to foster dialogue and empower these talented young women. Rowe enthuses, “while all of us move freely between male-led, female-led and mixed bands, it is a powerful experience to be together with other talented women and I’ve come to realize that many young women jazz musicians never get that experience, one that can prove to be life-changing for them”.

Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion opens with “Ain’t I A Woman” - a hymn that remembers all of the unsung heroines of the civil rights movement including women like Septima Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary Bethune Cook, Daisy Bates and Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray. While “R.F.P. (Relentless Forward Progress)” was composed in honor of the great distance runners Joan Benoit Samuelson, Meghan “The Queen” Canfield Laws and Gunhild Swanson, “Game, Set and Match” pays tribute to Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. Both ladies fought endlessly for equal pay for women tennis players and led the way for future gay and lesbian athletes. Rowe remembers her dear friend and University of Michigan colleague, the late great pianist Geri Allen on “The Soul Keepers”. Reminiscent of both Allen’s stylings and that of one of her most significant influential figures, Mary Lou Williams, the track combines Mary Lou’s boogie-woogie style with some of Geri’s angular harmonies.

Drawn to folk-rock music, in addition to classical and jazz, from a young age, the pianist displays her appreciation for Carole King and Joni Mitchell, their melodic and harmonic sophistication and their powerful lyrics on “Anthem”. Referring to Michelle Obama as “the epitome of class and grace” as well as a very powerful role model for young women everywhere, the fifth track off the album, “The First Lady (No, Not You Melania)” was written immediately after Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017. While “The Guardians” is Rowe’s heartfelt tribute to two of the staunchest protectors of animal rights and their environments, Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, the album is brought to a close by a solo piano piece, “Song of the Meadowlark” - a composition which fondly remembers the composer’s mother. Having written the tune in Ucross, as well as been honored a residency at the Ucross Foundation, Rowe gifts this album closer to the Wyoming non-profit organization.

With the support of her talented ensemble, Rowe brings attention to the amazing women who have had a profound influence on her and celebrates their courage, talent, tenacity and grace on Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion.

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