Joel Ross

The Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based vibraphonist Joel Ross is a sophisticated jazz performer with a sound steeped in the post-bop tradition. A protégé of Stefon Harris, Ross initially gained attention as a sideman with Marquis Hill and Makaya McCraven before releasing his 2019 debut Blue Note album, Kingmaker. Along with his work as a member of Walter Smith III and Matthew Stevens' In Common band, he has continued to deliver ever more ambitious albums, including 2020's Who Are You? and 2022's The Parable of the Poet. Ross also contributed to Meshell Ndegeocello's Grammy-winning The Omnichord Real Book before delivering his harmonically textural 2024 small-group date, nublues.