Sky Blue - The Maria Schneider Orchestra

Schneider was born in Windom, Minnesota. She moved to New York City in 1985 after attending college at the University of Minnesota, the University of Miami and the Eastman School of Music. She studied under Bob Brookmeyer and Gil Evans, working on various projects with Evans, including the film The Color of Money.

Schneider formed The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra in 1993, appearing weekly at Visiones in Greenwich Village for five years. Her orchestra performed at many jazz festivals and toured Europe.

Schneider was one of the first artists to use ArtistShare to produce an album. Her 2004 album, Concert in the Garden, became the first Grammy Award winning recording with Internet-only sales. The album also received Jazz Album of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Awards. The Jazz Journalists also awarded Schneider Composer of the Year and Arranger of the Year, and named her group, Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.