Janel Leppin


Janel Leppin is an American cellist and multi-instrumentalist. Her work has been shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at many international festivals worldwide including the High Zero Festival, the Swedish Women in Jazz Festival and the Washington Women in Jazz Festival. She has acted as curator for works shown at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the ISSUE Project Room.
Leppin has released three solo recordings, Mellow Diamond, Songs for Voice and Mellotron, and American God, on her record label Wedderburn Records. She collaborates as part of Janel and Anthony with her husband, American guitar player Anthony Pirog. Recordings of her work as a composer and side musician appear on Touch, Tzadik, Sub Pop, Editions Mego, Ideologic Organ and Cuneiform Records. Her work uses experimental, avant-garde, modal jazz, free jazz, classical, ambient and rock influences.

Janel and Anthony

Leppin recorded two albums with Anthony Pirog as "Janel and Anthony": one self-titled and self-released recording in 2007, and Where is Home, released by Cuneiform Records, in 2012. A Fifth Anniversary Collectors Edition LP was released of the duo, recorded in 2010. In March 2016, they released the single "Sweet and Sour," and announced their forthcoming album, Glover Park.
In February 2016, Leppin started a label called Wedderburn Records which releases "music which has a magical or mystical essence." The label's first release was "Sweet and Sour" by Janel and Anthony, followed by Leppin's first two solo albums, Mellow Diamond and Songs for Voice and Mellotron. Leppin plans to release solo work by female artists including American pedal steel guitar legend Susan Alcorn and DC avant pop vocalist Adriana Lucia-Cotes.

Solo Recordings

In April 2016, Leppin released two solo recordings. For the first album titled, Mellow Diamond, Leppin drew from far and wide, from avant-garde pop to ambient style. She recorded analog synthesizers, a harpsichord, pedal steel, a cello, mellotron, found sound samples, and radio frequencies. Several political messages are found in the work, notably in "Belly of the Beast" which is about living in Washington D.C., as well as in "No Treaty" and "Cast in Gold."
The second album, originally titled Songs of the One-Armed Woman, Songs for Voice and Mellotron, was written in 2015, when Leppin injured her right elbow and was unable to perform solo concerts on her primary instrument, the cello. The EP-length recording includes politically-charged music, such as "Paris," which calls for people to remember all victims from terrorist attacks after the deaths in Paris in 2015 and brings attention to the possible effects of American drone strikes. The second track, "In A Dream," is about global warming. Most tracks were recorded live with Leppin singing and playing the M4000D simultaneously, with very little overdubbing.
Leppin's most recent album, American God, was released in April 2017. This album continues with political themes, as Leppin put it together with the 2016 Presidential Election in mind.

Jazz Works

Leppin leads Ensemble Volcanic Ash, an avant-jazz chamber group, including harp, bassoon, cello, and alto saxophone. The group was premiered before a sold-out crowd at the legendary Bohemian Caverns in Washington D.C. to rave reviews, being called "Aaah-vant Garde at its finest." The ensemble includes Sarah Hughes, Mary Lattimore, Amy Bormet, Amy Frasier, Jacqueline Poullaf, Betsy Wright, Jaimie Branch.
ArtistAlbumsInstrumentationLabelYear
Janel and AnthonyJanel and AnthonyCello, Electronics, Voice, LoopsSelf Released, Cricket Cemetery2007
Janel and AnthonyWhere is HomeCello, Electronics, Voice, Voice, Mellotron, Harpsichord, Bowed and Struck Vibraphone, Prophet Five Synthesizer, PianoCuneiform Records2012
Mellow DiamondMellow DiamondVocals, Cello, Koto, Pedal Steel, Arp 2600, Prophet 5 Synthesizer, Korg MS-20, Modular Synthesizer, Optigan, Mellotron, Mini Moog, Grand Piano, Upright Piano, Harpsichord, Bowed and Struck Vibraphone, Electronics, Drums, Bass, Guitar, Radio Frequencies, Footsteps, Record Collage, Struck Pan Lids, Tape LoopsWedderburn Records2016
Mellow DiamondSongs for Voice and MellotronVoice, Mellotron M4000D, Vibraphone, Electronics, Prophet 5 Synthesizer, Modular SynthesizerWedderburn Records2016
Mellow DiamondAmerican GodVoice, Cello, Electronics, Prophet 5 Synthesizer, Baby Grand CP70, Mellotron, Bass DrumWedderburn Records2017

Also Appears On

ArtistAlbumLabelYear
Oren AmbarchiAudience of OneTouch Records 2012
Eyvind KangVisible BreathIdeologic Organ / Editions Mego 2012
Trio/SextetSonic Mass Records 2012
OmicronWhat a Mess! Records 2014
Rose WindowsThe Sun DogsSub Pop 2013
Marissa NadlerRemembering Mountains: Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton;
plays cello on "So Long and Far Away"		Tompkins Square Label 2014
SkysawGreat CivilizationsDangerbird Records 2009
Ignorant AmericanIgnorant AmericanSonic Mass Records2009
Eyvind KangGrassTzadik Records2012
PriestsNothing Feels NaturalSister Polygon Records2017
The Messthetics "The Weaver"Dischord Records2018
Marissa NadlerFor My CrimesBella Union, Sacred Bones 2018