Terry Gross

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Boldenado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Anna Bauman, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, and Nico Gonzalez-Whistler.

Our digital media producer is Molly C.V.

Nesper.

Roberta Shorrock is our director.

Our co-host is Tanya Mosley.

I'm Terry Brown.

My guest, Leve, is a singer, cellist, pianist, guitarist, and songwriter whose 2023 album Bewitched was the first album ever to top Billboard's jazz and traditional jazz charts in its first week of release.

But is she a jazz artist?

Only partially.

Her 2023 album Bewitched won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album and was named Crossover Album of the Year by Variety.

Her music resembles her personal identity in that both are hard to categorize.

Her songs draw on her deep knowledge of classical music and jazz, as well as from pop and classic musicals.

She grew up in Reykjavik, Iceland and Washington, D.C., with a mother who emigrated from China and is a violinist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

Her father is from Iceland, and Leve grew up listening to recordings from his jazz collection.

She started piano lessons at age four, cello lessons at age eight, and performed on cello with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra when she was 15.

She describes her music as taking inspiration from the past with lyrics firmly rooted in the present.

Her concerts are filled with listeners in their 20s who may not know or care much about jazz or classical music.

Leve is 26.

She started attracting an audience during the COVID lockdown when she began posting videos of her singing jazz standards and originals, accompanying herself on cello, guitar, or piano.

She brought her guitar with her today to play and sing some songs, including music from her new album, A Matter of Time.