Native American jazz vocalist in West Palm Beach reclaiming space in American music
By Wilkine Brutus
October 16, 2026 at 6:02 AM EDT
A Native American jazz vocalist has a lot to say ahead of her performance in West Palm Beach. She is reclaiming space in American music as the lead of a 16-piece Indigenous big band.
The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band fuses traditional tribal heritage with big band arrangements, from the soul steering, upbeat "Blood Quantum" to the slow and poetic "Ku'u Pua i Paoakalani."
Julia Keefe told WLRN she brings together Native musicians to celebrate historical jazz pioneers while empowering contemporary indigenous artists.
“The purpose behind the music of the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band really is to celebrate the diversity and vitality of indigenous people in jazz past, present and future," Keefe said.
Keefe plans to interweave that historical context into the upcoming performance at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach on Oct. 22.
She notes that jazz, a genre created and historically rooted in Black American life and culture, has long made its way in tribal history.
"Jazz was actually in Indian country and part of the fabric of tribal life at the height of its popularity," she said.
Prominent historical pioneers and contemporary leaders of Native American jazz include Mildred Bailey, Oscar Pettiford, Jim Pepper, and trombone player Big Chief Russell Moore who played alongside Louis Armstrong's band.
READ MORE: New film pushes for ‘educational transformation’ in Haiti as TPS ends
Weaving historical storytelling and vocal techniques, the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band create a distinct melodic fusion by pairing traditional hand drums and Native flutes over classic big band brass and rhythm.
The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band fuses traditional tribal heritage with big band arrangements. (8256x5504, AR: 1.5)
Compositions also integrate tribal chants and Indigenous languages. That format drives their debut album, Incarnadine — a Shakespearean word meaning “redden”.
Keefe explains how the concept confronts the history of Indigenous peoples. “I think in a lot of ways, playing with this word incarnadine, to redden, to make the color of blood, the history of indigenous people in America, especially post-contact, has been a very bloody one," Keefe said.
Even the band's song "Blood Quantum" wrestles with U.S. colonial history in the late 1800s. The term refers to a mathematical system, originally imposed by the U.S. federal government, specifically the Dawes Act (1887) and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, that calculated Native American identity based on the biological fraction of a person's Indigenous ancestry.
It systematically reduced Native populations on paper, justified the seizure of ancestral lands, forced assimilation and replaced traditional Indigenous systems of kinship and belonging.
Beyond confronting history, Keefe said the ensemble uses the album to reshape traditional perspectives on jazz — she wants to ensure Native presence remains vital in American music.
'We have 16 people who are taking up that space and taking bold action to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed, " she said.
IF YOU GO:
What: Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band
When: Thu, Oct 22, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts 701 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33401
For more information, see here
(2750x625, AR: 4.4)
The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band fuses traditional tribal heritage with big band arrangements, from the soul steering, upbeat "Blood Quantum" to the slow and poetic "Ku'u Pua i Paoakalani."
Julia Keefe told WLRN she brings together Native musicians to celebrate historical jazz pioneers while empowering contemporary indigenous artists.
“The purpose behind the music of the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band really is to celebrate the diversity and vitality of indigenous people in jazz past, present and future," Keefe said.
Keefe plans to interweave that historical context into the upcoming performance at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach on Oct. 22.
She notes that jazz, a genre created and historically rooted in Black American life and culture, has long made its way in tribal history.
"Jazz was actually in Indian country and part of the fabric of tribal life at the height of its popularity," she said.
Prominent historical pioneers and contemporary leaders of Native American jazz include Mildred Bailey, Oscar Pettiford, Jim Pepper, and trombone player Big Chief Russell Moore who played alongside Louis Armstrong's band.
READ MORE: New film pushes for ‘educational transformation’ in Haiti as TPS ends
Weaving historical storytelling and vocal techniques, the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band create a distinct melodic fusion by pairing traditional hand drums and Native flutes over classic big band brass and rhythm.
The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band fuses traditional tribal heritage with big band arrangements. (8256x5504, AR: 1.5)
Compositions also integrate tribal chants and Indigenous languages. That format drives their debut album, Incarnadine — a Shakespearean word meaning “redden”.
Keefe explains how the concept confronts the history of Indigenous peoples. “I think in a lot of ways, playing with this word incarnadine, to redden, to make the color of blood, the history of indigenous people in America, especially post-contact, has been a very bloody one," Keefe said.
Even the band's song "Blood Quantum" wrestles with U.S. colonial history in the late 1800s. The term refers to a mathematical system, originally imposed by the U.S. federal government, specifically the Dawes Act (1887) and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, that calculated Native American identity based on the biological fraction of a person's Indigenous ancestry.
It systematically reduced Native populations on paper, justified the seizure of ancestral lands, forced assimilation and replaced traditional Indigenous systems of kinship and belonging.
Beyond confronting history, Keefe said the ensemble uses the album to reshape traditional perspectives on jazz — she wants to ensure Native presence remains vital in American music.
'We have 16 people who are taking up that space and taking bold action to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed, " she said.
IF YOU GO:
What: Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band
When: Thu, Oct 22, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts 701 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33401
For more information, see here
(2750x625, AR: 4.4)