Rebecca Hennessy

Rebecca Hennessy is an award-winning trumpeter, vocalist, composer, and bandleader whose music bridges jazz, roots, and singer-songwriter traditions. Her upcoming studio album, Maps and Photographs, is a deeply personal collection of nine original songs that explore memory, family, migration, love, loss, and our relationship to the natural world. Richly layered yet intimate, the album reflects Hennessy's gift for weaving poetic storytelling with expansive, jazz-informed arrangements.

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Maps and Photographs brings together world-renowned collaborators Kevin Breit (guitar and vocals), Tania Gill (piano), Michael Herring (bass), and Dave Clark (drums). Together they create a cinematic sound world where lyrical songwriting, improvisation, and organic ensemble playing meet with warmth and emotional depth. Hennessy's expressive voice, lyrical trumpet playing, and distinctive compositional voice are at the heart of the recording, balancing vulnerability with fearless musical exploration.

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This new release follows her acclaimed albums Joy Will Find Us (2023), All the Little Things You Do (2020), and Makeshift Island: Live at the Jazz Room (2025). Each recording highlights her longstanding musical partnership with guitarist Kevin Breit and showcases her ability to blend heartfelt songwriting with adventurous musicianship.

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As both a composer and performer, Rebecca is drawn to stories that connect the personal with the universal. Whether writing for small ensembles, large jazz orchestra, or song, her music reflects a curiosity about place, belonging, and the ways our histories continue to shape us. She has released nine other albums as a bandleader or co-leader and has toured extensively throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Mexico, Panama, and Sri Lanka. Rebecca has performed and recorded with artists including Adele, Ron Sexsmith, Andy Kim, Owen Pallett, Feist, Broken Social Scene, Yellowjackets, and has shared the stage with Danilo Pérez, Brian Blade, and John Patitucci. In 2026, she was nominated for the Louis Applebaum Composers Award, recognizing her growing body of work as a composer.

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A longtime fixture at Toronto's Massey Hall, Rebecca led the Women's Blues Revue band from 2013 to 2022 and returned as a featured vocalist in 2024. She received the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Jazz Artist Award in 2018 and has been a proud Yamaha Artist since 2021, performing on the YTR-8310Z trumpet.