Linda Oh

Born in Malaysia, raised in, Perth, Western Australia, Linda started classical piano at age four and took up clarinet at eleven and bassoon at thirteen. At fifteen, Linda dabbled on electric bass playing jazz in the high-school and community big-bands while playing a lot of Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2002 she was accepted into the W.A Academy of Performing Arts and started taking lessons on double-bass. She finished at W.A.A.P.A, receiving first-class honours and In 2005 she received the Bob Wyllie Scholarship awarded to the best graduation recitalist and the West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra (WAYJO) Scholarship. She was also a recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award 2008, and composes for film – participating int he BMI 2010 Film Composing Workshop. Linda received an honorary mention at the 2009 Thelonious Monk Semi-Finals and received the 2010 Bell Award for Young Australian Jazz Artist of the year. She came 2nd at the BASS2010 competition in Berlin. Linda now lives in New-York City after completing her Masters at the Manhattan School of Music (now teaching bass in the precollege division). She has performed with the likes of Steve Wilson, Kenny Barron, Dave Douglas, Kevin Hayes and Cyrus Chestnut. Her self-released debut album Entry featuring Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet and Obed Calvaire on drums had a good reception. Her second album Initial Here released May 22nd, 2012 on Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf Music label featuring Dayna Stephens (tenor sax), Fabian Almazan (piano), Rudy Royston (drums) and guest Jen Shyu (vocals). She is also working on a jazz quartet with string quartet concept “Concert in the Dark” where the musicians play with specific movements throughout the audience with very minimal lighting to enhance the listening experience and create a spatial surround sound effect. Linda also has a Jazz Gallery Commission which will be performed in 2012.