Roella Oloro Trio

Doors 7:45 pm, music 8:30 pm – 2 sets of music at Vortex.

Line-up:
- Roella Oloro – piano, alto saxophone
- Andee Liu – drums
- Rio Kai – double bass

About:
Roella Oloro is a multi-instrumentalist and composer originally from Gloucester, UK with Nigerian and Jamaican heritage. She has performed worldwide and written music in a variety of styles ranging from trio and quartet instrumentation to jazz and symphonic orchestra. She graduated magna cum laude in May 2023 from Berklee College of Music, where she studied for 4 years on a full tuition scholarship. She has also obtained a master’s degree at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in June 2024.

In 2026 she has performed at venues in New York City and State including at the Lincoln Centre, for Jazz Forum Arts in Tarrytown, NY and debuted at the Blue Note jazz club with British afro-jazz band Steamdown. In August 2026 she was the opening headline act of the Charles River Jazz Fest in Boston, as part of the festival's first year at the Hatch Memorial Shell.

In fall 2025 she completed a US/UK tour with her trio where she performed in New York, Connecticut and Boston in the US and the Stroud Goodshed, the Royal Albert Hall, The Ned and Templeton Gardens for Brave Poets in the UK. Early 2024 she performed with her trio and tenor saxophonist Mary Orji's band on the Bands at NAMM stages at the Hilton Hotel and the Grand Plaza. In May 2024 she went on a mini-tour to Panama with the Berklee Global Jazz Ambassadors led by Danilo Perez, artistic director and founder of the Global Jazz Institute and Panama Jazz Festival.

In 2023 Roella performed with her piano trio at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California and at Capitol Turnaround in Washington DC as a featured artist of the Sherocks 2023 showcase. She has represented Berklee's Jazz and Gender Justice Institute at the Reno Jazz Festival, the Detroit Jazz Festival Collegiate Competition, and headlined with Terri Lyne Carrington's band as part of BAMSfest 2023.

In May 2022 she won the ISJAC (International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers) prize for Emerging Black Composers. She traveled to Austin, Texas to accept the award and perform with the 17-piece jazz orchestra that was provided. In November 2022 Roella booked and completed a London mini-tour with her trio from Berklee that coincided with the London Jazz Festival. The three biggest of the five show dates, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, a Late Late Show at Ronnie Scott’s and a lunch-time show at the Pizza Express Soho, were all sold out. The tour also coincided with the release of her first EP, Sentient Sounds. When she returned to the United States after her mini-tour, her original composition La Voyage de La Rivière for wind orchestra was debuted by the Berklee Symphonic Winds Orchestra with Roella conducting at the Berklee Performance Centre during their fall 2022 concert, Colours.