Joshua Espinoza Trio

Joshua Espinoza Trio
Baltimore, MD
Grant amount: $6,938

About the Artists

The Baltimore-based Joshua Espinoza Trio has been performing together since their formation in November 2017. Led by Latino-American pianist Joshua Espinoza, the trio blends and bends genres into a style uniquely their own. The trio’s music fuses the spontaneity of the African American jazz tradition with soaring Latin and Appalachian folk melodies, shimmering impressionism, and head bopping backbeats. Together, they explore the art of musical storytelling with the freedom of jazz and the refinement of classical chamber music. Made up of NYC bassist Kris Monson and Baltimore drummer Jaron Lamar Davis, the trio has released a full-length album, Journey Into Night (2019), and a handful of successful singles. Their single “And So It Goes” broke into the Top 40 of Spotify’s Global Jazz Charts in early 2022, and their most recent release “Appalachian Wanderer” was included on Spotify’s genre-defining State of Jazz Playlist. Their second full length album is slated for independent release in mid-2023. Espinoza was a finalist in the 2018 Ellis Marsalis International Jazz Piano Competition, and has performed professionally with jazz luminaries Sean Jones, Warren Wolf, Miho Hazama, Jihye Lee, Paul Bollenback, John D’earth, Mike Pope, Chuck Redd, and Kris Funn. Bassist Kris Monson has worked with heavyweights Ari Hoenig, Marc Cary, and Tyshawn Sorey and is currently a doctoral candidate at the New England Conservatory. Drummer Jaron Lamar Davis is a genre-defying voice on the east coast drum scene, and is in high demand in the jazz, funk, neo-soul, and gospel worlds. He has performed and recorded with notable artists such as Immanuel Wilkins, Jay Daversa, Bill Reeder, Dave Napier, Dontae Winslow, Ameen Saleem, Mark Meadows, and Rochelle Rice.