Named Northwest Emerging Artist of the Year by Earshot Jazz, Jahnvi Madan is an Indian American clarinetist, improviser, composer, and educator currently based between Brooklyn and Seattle. As a bandleader, she has performed her original music at several well-known Jazz Festivals, including the Washington D.C. Women in Jazz Festival, the Westerlies Festival, and recently at Earshot Jazz Festival, as their youngest commissioned composer. Madan has established herself locally, playing her music with her quintet at venues around Seattle like the Royal Room and Seattle Jazz Fellowship. She has received funding for her musical projects from the City of Seattle, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Artist Trust, New England Conservatory, the City of Auburn, and more. A recent graduate of the New England Conservatory, she studied under renowned musicians such as Jason Moran, Melissa Aldana, Dominique Eade, and Frank Carlberg. Madan recorded her debut album in November 2024 at Studio Litho in Seattle, with support from Artist Trust’s GAP Grant, the Presser Foundation, and New England Conservatory’s Spark Award. The album, Soften, released on all streaming services in November 2025. Madan most recently served as Artist-in Residence at Town Hall Seattle. As a music educator for over 9 years, Madan is committed to inclusivity, and recently planned, ran, and taught at Seattle JazzED’s Femme Jazz Day, an event that focused on building confidence improvising for young femme musicians. While a student at the New England Conservatory, she was instrumental in establishing the Institution’s first ever DEI space - the Cultural Equity and Belonging Office; it came as a direct result of her outspoken activism online and on campus.
