Jaimie Branch


Jaimie "Breezy" Branch was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.

Life and career

Branch was born in Huntington, New York, on June 17, 1983. She started playing trumpet at age nine. At age 14, she moved to Wilmette, a suburb of Chicago. She attended the New England Conservatory of Music. In her teen years, Branch played trumpet in jazz, classical, and rock settings.
After graduating, Branch moved back to Chicago, working as a musician, organizer, and sound engineer on the local music scene, including with Jason Ajemian, Keefe Jackson's Project Project, Tim Daisy's New Fracture Quartet, Anton Hatwich, and Ken Vandermark. She performed in Chicago and New York with her trio Princess, Princess and in trios with Tim Daisy and Daniel Levin.
In 2012 Branch moved to Baltimore, where she worked toward a master's degree in Jazz performance from Towson University. At this time she also founded the record label Pionic Records, which released the music of her group Bomb Shelter. After two years, she dropped out of Towson, and six months later she moved to New York to seek treatment for heroin addiction.
In the spring of 2015 Branch moved to Brooklyn, where she began working with Fred Lonberg-Holm, Mike Pride, Luke Stewart, Jason Nazary, Tcheser Holmes, and many more. In addition, she performed on albums with the independent rock groups Never Enough Hope, Local H and The Atlas Moth. As of 2016, she worked in a quartet with Chad Taylor, Jason Ajemian and Tomeka Reid, as well as with Mike Pride, Shayna Dulberger and Weasel Walter, and with Yoni Kretzmer and Tobey Cederberg. In 2017 she released her debut solo album, Fly or Die, with Tomeka Reid, Jason Ajemian, Chad Taylor, Matt Schneider, Ben LaMar Gay, and Josh Berman.
Fly or Die was chosen as one of NPR Music's Top 50 Albums of 2017.
Branch cited Don Cherry, Axel Dörner, Booker Little, Miles Davis, and Evan Parker among her musical influences.
Branch died at home in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn on August 22, 2022, at the age of 39, from an accidental drug overdose. Following her death, Branch was memorialized by her musician peers.

Discography

Albums as bandleader

;Duo with Jason Nazary
  • 2018: Kudu
  • 2020: Tour Beats Vol. 1
  • 2022: ''Pink Dolphins''

    Collaborations

  • Keefe Jackson's Project Project, Just Like This
  • New Fracture Quartet, 1,000 Lights
  • Predella Group, Strade D ' Acqua / Roads of Water
  • Bullet Hell, Smart Bombs
  • Beyond All Things, Live at the Bushwick Series
  • Party Knüllers X Jaimie Branch, Live at la Casa
  • Ig Henneman, Jaimie Branch & Anne La Berge, Dropping Stuff and Other Folk Songs
  • An Unruly Manifesto, An Unruly Manifesto
  • Medicine Singers, Medicine Singers
  • Dave Gisler Trio, Zurich Concert
  • Dave Gisler Trio, ''See You Out There''