“Stay until you lose the urge to leave.” This was the only musical instruction that flutist Gina Izzo gave to her collaborators in the studio while recording the eponymous debut album for her solo project, ladyybirdd. Featuring original music by Gina, ladyybirdd transforms the sound of the acoustic flute through washed out reverbs, analog synthesizers, and FX.
The album marks the first time that Gina has composed and produced her own music, and she enlisted the help of Joseph Branciforte at greyfade studios as well as some of her favorite artists. Throughout the album, Andy Akiho (steel-pan), Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Erika Dohi (keyboards), Nick Dunston (bass), Carol Féliz (spoken word), Ian David Rosenbaum (percussion), and Immanuel Wilkins (saxophone) all respond to Gina through improvisation.
Gina Izzo–Photo by Shervin Lainez
The video for the debut single, “into what is wanted,” was developed in collaboration with videographer Simon Yu and lighting designer Matthew Soares. Here’s what Gina had to say about the process of creating the video:
Every choice you make alters your direction and always remains a part of who you are. My composition “into what is wanted” is a personal exploration ruminating over my own choices through landscapes of acoustic sound and analog FX with the flute at its center. From escalating sequences that echo one another to long reverb reminiscent of what came before, I assert agency through extended techniques and layered polyrhythms in an attempt to drastically reshape my direction. Yet, I ultimately find myself back where I began.
In conjunction with lighting designer Matthew Soares, the lighting design by videographer Simon Yu created evoking imagery through an LED wall and moving lights that were responsive to the music — in real-time. The technology reacts to my sound through visual improvisations with subtle fluctuations and intensities, resulting in high-energy projections that fade out with me as I dismantle my sound.
ladyybirdd is set to release in 2022. “into what is wanted” drops on October 26, 2021, and you can pre-order the single here.
About Gina Izzo
NY-based flutist Gina Izzo “Rattles speakers and expectations with stop-time razzle, vocal (flute-talk) and electronic (phaser) effects” (NYC Jazz Record). Izzo was featured at Duke Performances with Steve Coleman’s Natal Eclipse, Lincoln Center Out of Doors with Revive Music and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and The Jazz Standard as part of Ambrose Akinmusire’s “The Imagined Savior.” She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, David Geffen Hall, The Public Theater, the Jazz Standard, The Stone, National Sawdust, Bang on a Can Festival, and with artists Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Doe Paoro, and on John Olivier’s “SLAPP Suits” on HBO.
Izzo co-founded bespoken with Eunbi Kim, a mentorship organization for women in music serving over 50 artists through their fellowship program since 2018. In 2010, she co-founded RighteousGIRLS with pianist Erika Dohi, whose album Gathering Blue received 4.5 stars in Downbeat Magazine and was hailed as “one of the most adventurous new music debut albums in recent years.”
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