Episode 12-Julieta Eugenio: Music is Magic

Strictly Jazz Sounds

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”— Lao Tzu

Music moves the soul in so many ways. It moves the spirit and inspires living beings to become one with the music. Argentinian Julieta Eugenio was just that person from a young age. She’s not entirely sure why. Her parents didn’t play an instrument though they played recordings around the house. As long as she can remember, music was in her life.

Her personal interest wasn’t piqued until she saw a piano when she was about five years old. It was like magic, Julieta recalls. She was visually pinned to the piano. That’s love at first site. Music grabbed her and it hasn’t let her go since. Later, when she was in middle school, when she joined the school band, Julieta nonchalantly selected a saxophone when presented with a choice of instruments. A tenor saxophone.

Julieta Eugenio hails from Argentina and now lives in New York city. She made this bold change in her life at 23 years old. Alone. No family or friends to accompany her. Julieta’s formal music studies began following high school in Buenos Aires at Conservatorio Manuel de Falla (Bachelor 2012) and the Conservatorio Nacional Lopez Buchardo (IUNA) where she studied jazz. In New York, Julieta attended Queens College where she studied jazz and performed in area clubs with the masters, including pianist Johnny O’Neal, David Kikoski and Pasquale Grasso.

The mental journey Julieta took was immense. She loves jazz and knew she had to take the leap, leaving the familiar settings and family, the beautiful landscape of Argentina, and the comfort of her home country to challenge herself in New York City. It seems, though, to be paying itself off as Julieta was recently recognized as one of the top ten emerging jazz talents by the Recording Academy in their online publication, “Grammys.” In 2017, Eugenio won the International Women in Jazz Competition as a member of the SIJ Trio, which she formed with pianist Sarah Slonim and bassist Inbar Paz. With her own trio, she won the DCJazzPrix 2022, a competition presented by the DC Jazz Fest.

I think we all know what it’s like to be somewhere new, far from home and vastly different from home. Thrust a global pandemic into this formula. That’s what Julieta had to face, alone in New York. Then, good fortune showed up. One of her beloved sisters decided to immigrate to New York for work, which saved Julieta. And those are her words describing the arrival of her sister. Jazz also saved her.

Thank you for listening to this podcast. Subscribing will make sure you’re one of the first ones to receive future episodes. Check out my website for other articles and photos. As usual, you will be treated to two complete tracks of music. These compositions will come from Julieta’s 2022 debut recording, Jump, which can be found on Greenleaf Music. Jazz Journalists Association president, Howard Mandel, gave the album a four-star rating in DownBeat Magazine. This features her trio with Julieta on tenor sax, Matt Dwonszyk on bass and Jonathan Barber on drums.

Upcoming episodes include saxophonist Roxy Coss, pianist Miki Yamanaka, who has a new album soon to be released, and harpist Brandee Younger. You can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple, Amazon and other streaming services. Thank you for listening.