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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. My guest, Leve, is a singer, cellist, pianist,

guitarist, and songwriter, whose 2023 album Bewitched was the first album ever to top

billboards jazz and traditional jazz charts in its first

week of release. But is she a jazz artist? Only partially, her 2023 album Bewitched, won a Grammy for

Best Traditional Pop album, and was named Crossover Album of the Year by Variety. Her music resembles her

personal identity in that both are

hard to categorize. Her songs draw on her deep knowledge of classical music and jazz, as well as

from pop and classic musicals. She grew up in Reykjavik Iceland and Washington, D.C., with a mother

who emigrated from China and is a violinist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

Her father is from Iceland, and Lave grew up listening to recordings from his jazz collection.

She started piano lessons at age four, cello lessons at age eight, and performed on cello with

the Iceland Symphony Orchestra when she was 15. She describes her music as taking inspiration

from the past, with lyrics firmly rooted in the present. Her concerts are filled with listeners

in their 20s who may not know or care much about jazz or classical music. Leve is 26. She started

attracting an audience during the COVID lockdown when she began posting

videos of her singing jazz standards and originals, accompanying herself on cello, guitar, or piano.

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