“Tomeka Reid is known simultaneously as one of the most delicate and fierce improvisers in jazz.”
photo Michael Jackson | hi-res
Described as a “New Jazz Power Source” by the New York Times, cellist and composer Tomeka Reid has Emerged as one of the most original, versatile, and curious musicians in Chicago’s bustling jazz and improvised music community over the last decade. Her distinctive melodic sensibility, always rooted in a strong sense of groove, has been featured in many distinguished ensembles over the years.
Reid released her debut recording as a bandleader in 2015 with the Tomeka Reid Quartet, a vibrant showcase for the cellist’s improvisational acumen as well as her dynamic arrangements and compositional ability. The quartet’s second album, Old New (Cuneiform, 2019), was hailed as “fresh and transformative,” followed by their 2024 release 3+3, which All About Jazz described as “as transportingly good as jazz gets.” In February 2026, the quartet released their fourth album, dance! skip! hop! (Out of Your Head Records), to widespread critical acclaim—earning features on NPR’s Fresh Air, a spot on SPIN Magazine's list of the best albums of 2026 so far, and praise from The Wall Street Journal, which praised it as "their fourth and most fully realized album," and DownBeat, which called it "one of its most unfettered, confident explorations."
Reid has been a key member of ensembles led by legendary reedists like Anthony Braxton (Zim Sextet) and Roscoe Mitchell (Roscoe Mitchell Quartet, Art Ensemble of Chicago), as well as a younger generation of visionaries including flutist Nicole Mitchell (Black Earth Ensemble, Artifacts), vocalist Dee Alexander (Evolution Ensemble), and drummer Mike Reed (Loose Assembly, Living By Lanterns, Artifacts) She is also a member of Tomas Fujiwara’s 7 Poets trio, Myra Melford’sFire and Water, Dave Douglas’s Gifts Quintet, Craig Taborn Trio and Angelika Niescier’s Beyond Dragons. Other projects that Tomeka composes for is the Tomeka Reid Stringtet, an ensemble of improvising strings that varies in size from seven pieces to sixteen pieces with conductor, that explores her love of stringed instruments and rhythm and the Tomeka Reid Septet that began as a tribute to Duke Ellington’s 125th birthday.
“Tomeka Reid expands the possibilities of jazz avant garde.”
— NPR’S Fresh Air
In 2013, Reid launched the first Chicago Jazz String Summit, a three-day international festival of cutting edge string players held in Chicago. 2026 sees its 12th iteration. From 2019 to 2021 Tomeka Reid received a teaching appointment at Mills College as the Darius Milhaud chair in composition. In 2022, she was the Artist in Residence for the Moers Jazz Festival, a Visiting Roth Scholar and visiting professor at Dartmouth College from 2023-25 and she received her doctorate in music from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2017.
Tomeka is a 2026 Doris Duke Artist, 2022 MacArthur Fellow, and Herb Alpert Awardee, as well as a 2021 USA Fellow, 2022 Jazz Journalists Association String Player of the Year, and 2017 JJA Jazz Hero. Her work has been recognized in the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, while consistently topping the DownBeat Critics Poll in the cello category. She has also received major grants and awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2019) and 3Arts (2016).
