Nicole McCabe

Nicole McCabe is a Los Angeles-based alto saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator. Her sound involves much of the jazz tradition from swing to post-bop to the modern vanguard, and indulges modern grooves from a variety of popular genres, umbrellaed by improvisation. She also co-leads the recording and performing electro-jazz ensemble Dolphin Hyperspace with bassist Logan Kane. After earning a master's degree at USC's Southern Thornton School of Music, she embedded herself in L.A.'s interdisciplinary, jazz-adjacent scenes on boundary-stretching labels including Brainfeeder, Leaving, and Minaret Records. Minaret issued her 2020 debut, Introducing Nicole McCabe, following it in 2022 with Landscapes and in 2024 by Live at Jamboree. In addition, she issued the globally acclaimed Mosaic. 2025's warmly received A Song to Sing found McCabe playing all the instruments. She followed in 2026 with Color Theory, leading a sextet recorded live in a Brooklyn studio.