Cleo Reed

Cleo Reed is one of the most interesting new voices on the American music scene. The artist, who combines jazz, folk, soul, electronics, hip-hop and experimental music with extraordinary ease, will perform on the Blue Note stage with material that has earned her recognition from audiences and international critics.

Growing up between New York and Washington, D.C., Cleo Reed received a classical music education at the Harlem School of the Arts and then studied sound realization and sound design at Berklee College of Music. Her activities include not only composing and performing music, but also participatory art, creating instruments, installations and activities on the border of performance and visual arts.

The breakthrough moment in her career was the two-disc album CUNTRY, released in 2025. It's a bold tale about the work, identity, and experiences of modern America. The first part of the album draws on the traditions of American work songs, blues, folk, soul and country, while the second takes the listener into the world of futuristic electronics and hip-hop. The contrast between the two plays reflects both Reed's artistic pursuits and the tension between her New York upbringing and her family's southern roots.

CUNTRY has been included in the lists of the best albums of 2025 prepared by Pitchfork, NPR Music, Stereogum and That Good Sh*t, and Cleo Reed herself has been named to the prestigious Dazed 100 list of the most influential young artists in culture. She has performed on the stages of the Brooklyn Museum, Lincoln Center, Afropunk, Big Ears Festival, New Orleans Jazz Festival and the French Banlieues Bleues, and has also performed alongside artists such as BadBadNotGood, Sudan Archives, Nick Hakim, Armand Hammer and Annahstasia.

Band Composition: Cleo Reed — vocals/guitar/electronics Matthew Jamal — cello/double bass

Cleo Reed's work is distinguished by courage, sincerity and a consistent search for new means of expression. He respectfully addresses African-American musical traditions while subjecting them to contemporary reinterpretation and building his own unique artistic language. Her concerts are an intense, multidimensional experience in which music becomes a space for dialogue between history, present and future.