Jana Herzen (born April 24, 1959 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

), is a singer-songwriter with

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, rock and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

influences who founded

Motéma Music Motéma Music is a jazz and world music record label in the United States. It was founded in 2003 in San Francisco Bay Area. This record label’s catalog spans genres, cultures, and generations and has received Grammy recognition for over twen ...

, a

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

-based record label focused on virtuosic jazz and world music. Prior to founding the label in 2003, she worked as a musician (her CD, ''Soup's on Fire'', was the first CD on the label) and as an art agent for Winston Smith, who designed the logo for Motéma. Herzen was instrumental in the publishing of '' Artcrime'', Smith's 2nd volume of collected works on the

Last Gasp Last Gasp or The Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) * ''Last Gasp'' (''Inside No. 9''), a TV episode * '' The Last Gasp'', a 2007 album by Impaled * ''The Last Gasp'' (novel) * "Last Gasp" (song) {{dab ...

publishing imprint.

Biography

Her parents were university professors Leonard Herzenberg and Leonore Herzenberg, and she was raised on the campus of Stanford University. She attended Stanford from 1977 to 1979, and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

(NYU) from 1980 to 1982, where she completed an undergraduate degree in drama. While at NYU, she met Bernard Telsey and

Robert LuPone Robert Francis LuPone (July 29, 1946 – August 27, 2022) was an American actor and artistic director. He worked on stage, in film, and in television. He was the brother of actress Patti LuPone. Early life and training LuPone was born in Brook ...

, and together with five other NYU graduates, they founded the theatre production group Manhattan Class Company, for which she served as a

dramaturg A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...

, script doctor,

lighting designer In theatre, a lighting designer (or LD) works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text while keeping ...

, actor, and director for 10 years.Tom Terrell. "Jana Herzen Burns the Scene with Motéma Label and New Album, Soup's On Fire." ''Music Dish''. October 6, 2003. http://www.musicdish.com/mag/?id=8645 In 1991, she left

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to travel to Japan, Bali, and Australia where she worked on songs for her first album, which was eventually recorded in San Francisco and Paris from 1994 to 1997, and produced by Congolese

worldbeat Worldbeat is a music genre that blends pop music or rock music with world music or traditional music. Worldbeat is similar to other cross-pollination labels of contemporary and roots genres, and which suggest a rhythmic, harmonic or textural c ...

bassist and producer Shaka Ra Mutela. Herzen was A and R director and president of Motéma, a label founded in San Francisco. The label released two to three albums in a year, to an internationally distributed imprint with over 80 releases by 40 artists including albums by

Gregory Porter Gregory Porter (born November 4, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album: first in 2014 for ''Liquid Spirit'' and then again in 2017 for '' Take Me to the Alley''. Early l ...

Randy Weston Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston (April 6, 1926 – September 1, 2018) was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection. Weston's piano style owed much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious ...

Geri Allen Geri Antoinette Allen (June 12, 1957 – June 27, 2017) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. In addition to her career as a performer and bandleader, Allen was also an associate professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh ...

, and

Monty Alexander Montgomery Bernard "Monty" Alexander (born 6 June 1944) is a Jamaican jazz pianist. His playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues rooted melodies. He was influenced by Louis ...

Discography

As leader

* ''Soup's on Fire'' ( Motéma, 2003) * ''Passion of a Lonely Heart'' ( Motéma, 2012) * ''Nothing But Love'' ( Motéma, 2020)

As a co-leader

* Nett Duo: Charnett Moffett, Jana Herzen – ''Overtones'' ( Motéma, 2018) *Jana Herzen and

Charnett Moffett Charnett Moffett (June 10, 1967 – April 11, 2022) was an American jazz bassist. Moffett began playing bass in the family band, touring the Far East in 1975 at the age of eight. In the mid-1980s, he played with Wynton Marsalis and Branford Ma ...

– ''Round The World'' ( Motéma, 2020)

as side artist

Babatunde Lea Babatunde Lea ( ) is an American percussionist who plays Afro-Cuban jazz and worldbeat. He took his name from Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji. Biography Michael Lea was raised in Englewood, New Jersey, while regularly commuting to 116th an ...

—'' Soul Pools'' (Motéma, 2003) * DJ Jackie Christie – '' Made 4 U'' (Motéma, 2004) * Patrick Stanfield Jones – '' A Heart and an Open Road'' (Motéma, 2010) *

– ''

Treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions le ...

'' (Motéma, 2010)

as producer

—'' Soul Pools'' (Motéma. 2003) *

Amy London Amy London is a jazz singer and educator who has appeared on Broadway and in the vocal group ''The Royal Bopsters''. London grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. She moved to Manhattan in 1980 and began teaching jazz vocals in 1984. ''When I Look in Your ...

– ''Let's Fly'' (Motéma, 2011) *

– ''Harlem – Kingston Express Live!'' MTM-67 (Motéma, 2011)

as executive producer

*Babatunde Lea – ''Level of Intent'' 8-20320-0047-2 (Diaspora Records, 1996) *Babatunde Lea – ''Soul Pools'' 7-09363-7136-2 (Motéma, 2003) *

Lynne Arriale Lynne Arriale is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. She is Professor of Jazz Studies and Director of Small Ensembles at the University of North Florida. Awards and honors *"The Lights Are Always On" (2022) #3 on JazzWeek ...

Trio – ''Arise'' MTM71372 (Motéma, 2003) * DJ Jackie Christie/ Discomind – "Beautiful Day" ingle(2003) *DJ Jackie Christie – ''Made 4 U'' RAD 90079-2 (Motéma, 2004) *Babatunde Lea – ''Suite Unseen: Summoner of the Ghost'' MTM 00002 (Motéma, 2004) *

Marc Cary Marc Cary (born January 29, 1967) is a post bop jazz pianist based out of New York City. Cary has played and recorded with several well-known musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Betty Carter, Roy Hargrove, Arthur Taylor, Abbey Lincoln, Carl ...

– ''Focus'' MTM-00005 (Motéma, 2006) *

– ''When I Look into Your Eyes'' MTM-00011 (Motéma, 2007) * Rufus Reid Quintet – ''Live at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

'' MTM-00009 (CD+DVD) (Motéma, 2007) *

Roni Ben-Hur Roni Ben-Hur is an Israeli jazz guitarist who immigrated to the United States in 1985. His parents were Tunisian-Jewish from Tunisia. Biography Roni Bohobza grew up in Dimona, Israel. He is the youngest of seven children and one of two born a ...

– ''Keepin' It Open'' 232537 (Motéma, 2007) * Pete Levin – ''Deacon Blues'' MTM-0008 (Motéma, 2007) *Roni Ben-Hur,

Gene Bertoncini Gene J. Bertoncini (born 6 April 1937) is an American jazz guitarist. Biography Bertoncini was born in New York City, where he was raised in a musical family. His father, Mario Bertoncini (1901–1978), played guitar and harmonica. Gene began pl ...

– ''Smile: Jazz Therapy, Volume 1'' MTM – 00018 (Motéma, 2008) *

The New Jazz Composers Octet The New Jazz Composers Octet is an all-acoustic jazz ensemble founded by trumpeter/arranger David Weiss in 1996. NPR's Josh Jackson described them as "part New York hustle and part writer's workshop, all of it redolent with the aroma of newnes ...

– ''The Turning Gate'' MTM-00019 (Motéma, 2008) * K.J. Denhert – ''Dal Vivo a Umbria Jazz'' MTM – 00017 (Motéma, 2008) *

Antonio Ciacca Antonio Ciacca is a jazz pianist. Early life Ciacca was born in Germany and brought up in Italy. He began playing the piano at the age of seven. He has been taught by Steve Grossman, Kenny Barron, Marcus Belgrave and Barry Harris. Later life an ...

Quintet – ''Rush Life'' 232536 (Motéma, 2008) *

Alexis Cole Alexis Cole is an American jazz singer. Career Cole was born in Queens, New York. Her father and grandmother were both jazz singers and pianists. She grew up in South Florida, where she studied Musical Theater at the New World School of the Arts ...

– ''The Greatest Gift'' MTM-26 (Motéma, 2009) *Babatunde Lea's Umbo Weti: A Tribute to

Leon Thomas Amos Leon Thomas Jr. (October 4, 1937 – May 8, 1999), known professionally as Leon Thomas, was an American jazz and blues vocalist, born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and known for his bellowing glottal-stop style of free jazz singing in the ...

MTM-25 (Motéma, 2009) *

Tessa Souter Tessa Souter is a jazz singer, songwriter and writer. Early life Tessa Souter was born in London to a Trinidadian father and an English mother. She studied piano, then at the age of twelve taught herself how to play guitar. At sixteen she ran ...

– ''Obsession'' MTM-27 (Motéma, 2009) *Lynne Arriale – ''Nuance: The Bennett Studio Sessions'' MTM-00022 (Motéma, 2009) *

– ''The Art of Improvisation'' MTM-21 (Motéma, 2009) *

– ''The Storyteller'' MTM-51 (Motéma, 2010) *Geri Allen and

Timeline A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale represen ...

– ''Live'' MTM-42 (Motéma, 2010) * Patrick Stanfield Jones – ''A Heart and an Open Road'' MTM-39 (Motéma, 2010) *Charnett Moffett – ''Treasure'' MTM-43 (Motéma, 2010) *Rufus Reid featuring Steve Allee & Duduka da Fonseca – ''Out Front'' MTM-36 (Motéma, 2010) *

– ''Flying Toward the Sound'' MTM-37 (Motéma, 2010) *

Tomoko Sugawara Tomoko Sugawara is a harpist from Tokyo, Japan who grew up playing classical and Irish harp before learning to play the kugo or angular harp. With Swedish professor Bo Lawergren, whom she met at a kugo museum exhibit in Nara, Japan she engin ...

– ''Along the Silk Road'' MTM-31 (Motéma, 2010) *Antonio Ciacca Quintet – ''

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

Blues'' MTM-32 (Motéma, 2010) *

– ''Harlem – Kingston Express Live!'' MTM-67 (Motéma, 2011) * Jean-Michel Pilc – ''Essential'' MTM-61 (Motéma, 2011) * Nilson Matta and Roni Ben-Hur with

Victor Lewis Victor Lewis (born May 20, 1950) is an American jazz drummer, composer, and educator. Early life Victor Lewis was born on May 20, 1950 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Richard Lewis, who played saxophone and mother, Camille, a pianist-vocalist ...

and

Café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

– ''Mojave – Jazz Therapy, Vol. 3'' MTM-64 (Motéma, 2011) *Pilc Moutin Hoenig – ‘’Threedom’’ MTM-72 (Motéma, 2011)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herzen, Jana Living people American women singer-songwriters American women jazz singers American jazz singers Motéma Music artists 21st-century American women 1959 births