Emily Kuhn Quintet

BlueStem Presentation | Emily Kuhn, trumpet - Erik Skov, guitar - Meghan Stagl, piano/vocals - Kitt Lyles, bass - Gustavo Cortiñas, drums

Emily Kuhn is a jazz trumpet player based in Chicago, IL, described by the Chicago Jazz Magazine as having “a charismatic style and a sophistication that belies her youth.” Originally from Charlottesville, VA, Emily has made a name for herself as an active bandleader, sidewoman, composer, and educator. She released two albums via BACE Records, Sky Stories (2020) and Ghosts of Us (2023), to numerous accolades. She was named a Luminarts Fellow in Jazz in 2020. Emily leads two bands: a jazz quintet and a nine-piece chamber jazz ensemble, Helios. Outside of these projects, Emily plays regularly with a wide variety of ensembles across the jazz and Latin scenes in Chicago, including Latin fusion band Son Monarcas, Kitt Lyles’ Real Talk Collective, Gustavo Cortiñas’ Kind Regards, Sam Pilnick’s Nonet Project, Erik Skov’s Liminality, John Dorhauer’s Heisenberg Uncertainty Players, and Christy Bennett's Fumée. She has brought her original music to festivals including Stanford Jazz Festival, Hey Nonny’s Women’s Jazz Festival, the Festival of New Trumpet Music, the MCA's Tuesdays on the Terrace, and the Chicago Park District's Night Out in the Parks series, and her work has been supported by the Luminarts Cultural Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Illinois Arts Council, and the South Arts foundation’s Jazz Road program. Emily is currently the Jazz Combo Director and Improv Instructor at Hersey High School, and she has taught throughout Chicago and nationwide through MUSIC Inc., Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, and Stanford Jazz Workshop. Emily has a BM and BA in Jazz Trumpet Performance and Environmental Studies from Oberlin. She studied with renowned trumpet players Eddie Henderson, Sean Jones, John D’earth, and John Henes.

Guitarist, educator, and composer, Erik Skov has been performing in Chicago for over a decade. A graduate of North Central College in Jazz and Anthropology and a Masters in Jazz from Northwestern University, Skov has established himself as an up-and-coming new jazz guitar voice in a city whit an abundantly rich jazz & blues heritage. An experienced performer on guitar, as well as banjo, Skov has been able to work professionally with top musicians and composers in the jazz and classical worlds including Victor Goines, Jonathan Newman, Derek Bremel, Mallory Thompson, Ben Bolter, Frank Caruso, Charleen Brooks, Chris Madsen, and several others. Skov can be seen performing in several Chicago based ensembles including Gustavo Cortinas Kind Regards, Kitt Lyles Real Talk, Emily Kuhn Quintet, Alvin Cobb Jr. Trio, MCH Trio, Matt Peterson Sextet, Roy McGrath Chi-Town Sounds, Victor Bastidas DePasie Project, and the Paul Windsor Orchestra. He has performed as a leader or sideman at the Green Mill, Andy’s Jazz Club, The Jazz Showcase, Room 43, Millennium Park, Skokie Theater, Hemingway’s Bistro and in festivals such as the Chicago Jazz Fest, Oak Park Jazz Thaw, and Hey Nonny’s Women’s Jazz Fest.    

Raised in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Meghan Stagl has been pursuing music nonstop since her first piano lesson at the age of 6.  After much music participation in high school, she went on to Hope College knowing she wanted to study music, but unsure of much else.  It was here that she discovered her love for jazz, and began to grow more and more interested in the genre.  After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Music and Spanish and receiving various school awards and accolades, Meghan attended Western Michigan University where she would go on to receive a Master’s degree in Jazz Performance. Since moving to Chicago, Meghan has played and recorded vocals and piano with various projects and artists.  She can be found on Gustavo Cortiñas’ Kind Regards (2022), The Sam Pilnick Project’s Adler Suite (2021), and Emily Kuhn’s upcoming album, Ghosts of Us.  Meghan has played Chicago venues like Fulton Street Collective, the Jazz Showcase, the Hungry Brain, the Whistler, and the Green Mill, but her music has taken her all over to places including Yellowstone National Park.  In 2020, she received the Luminarts Fellowship for Jazz Voice.

​Kitt Lyles is one of Chicago’s most distinctive bassists and composers. Born and raised in South Carolina, Lyles has cultivated an aesthetic that synthesizes his love for Southern roots music with imaginative contemporary jazz. Unafraid to channel romance and grit alike and unwilling to sacrifice the centrality of melody, Lyles draws out the bass’ most vocal personality. Through his lyrical compositional style, inspired by the musical lineage of Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington, he seeks to highlight his musicians’ unique voices as well.  A graduate of Northwestern University (BM Jazz Studies, 2013), Kitt Lyles is an active performer, composer, and educator in the Chicago jazz community. He has been featured on 36 studio recordings and toured and taught masterclasses across the US, Latin America, and Asia, including festivals and venues such as The Chicago Jazz Festival, The Charlotte Jazz Festival, The Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Festival Espontáneo in Chiapas, MX, The Chicago Latin Jazz Festival, The Blue Note in Beijing, Blu Jazz Singapore, Zinco Jazz Club in Mexico City, Snug Harbor in New Orleans, ShapeShifter Lab in NYC, The Green Mill, The Jazz Showcase, The Old Town School of Folk Music, and The Logan Center at UChicago.

Embracing a multicultural language, while investing in a variety of disciplines within the music itself, Mexican born, and Chicago based drummer, composer, & producer Gustavo Cortiñas, has distinguished himself as a dynamic and melodic artist, committed to building empathy and understanding through music, in times of border walls and reductive narratives. Described as “One of Chicago’s most imaginative and exciting composers” (), “Cortiñas’ music is bluesy and deeply felt..sometimes it is raucus, sometimes solemn, but the music is always drenched in emotion.” (). This can be heard on his six records as a leader, (2013), (2017) (2021), ” (2022), “Live in Chicago” (2024), and . “Gustavo Cortiñas is a musician with a message, one of social justice. He delivers it in a style that fuses the melodic sensibilities of his ancestral Mexico with the complex syncopation of jazz.” (ALLABOUTJAZZ). His sixth discographic production "The Crisis Knows No Borders" presents a compelling musical narrative that examines sustainability and global interconnectedness, which Downbeat calls “impactful music, marked with all the sorrow, strife, confusion, anger and bits of joy that go into the confounding mix of emotions Cortiñas feels at this moment in history…great storytelling without saying a word”. “Cortiñas doesn’t just write music—he builds bold, urgent conversations into his compositions.” () Through these critically acclaimed productions and his participation in more than 50 other discographic productions, “Cortiñas’s deft touch reaffirms his status as one of the great drummers in the City’s new guard.” (ChicagoReader).

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