I wrote the cover story for the June issue of Earshot Jazz, which is themed around pride month. My focus was trombonist and event producer Haley Freedlund, who is a community-minded force in the Seattle music scene and who identifies as pansexual and genderqueer.
When Freedlund was a junior at Cornish College of the Arts, they participated in a rehearsal as part of the Cornish large ensemble with multi-instrumentalist and avant-garde jazz titan Marty Ehrlich, who was a visiting artist at the school in the spring of 2014. As he presided over the ensemble, Ehrlich offered up a spontaneous nugget of wisdom, in a moment that Freedlund calls one of the most impactful during their time at the school.
“I was really struggling with comparing myself to others…and he said something that just like really knocked me on my ass,” said Freedlund. “It was simple, and it wasn’t directed to me specifically, but he just said that there are different musicians for different gigs. In the years after that, I really started to find my voice as a musician and figure out what kind of trombonist and performer and improviser I wanted to be.”
This is the inclusive attitude she brings to her work in the community, which is birthing some beautiful events and collaborations.
