She walks in the Spirit showcases and celebrates Black Women, and how they embody the biblical Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, and Self-Control) through song and words.

Joel Ross: vibraphone
Gabrielle Garo: flute
Brandee Younger: harp
Nappy Nina: words
Mimi Jones: bass
Savannah Harris: drums

Joel Ross is a 2021 Roulette resident artist. Roulette’s Fall season will be presented virtually and available for free on a variety of streaming platforms. Our theater is currently closed for public performances as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the safety measures that Roulette has put in place to keep staff, artists, and the public safe.

Chicago native and newly-minted Blue Note artist Joel Ross is a “bright young vibraphonist on his own rocket-like trajectory.” (Nate Chinen, The New York Times). Ross has performed with many of jazz’s most lauded artists including Ambrose Akinmusire, Christian McBride, Gerald Clayton, Louis Hayes, Melissa Aldana, Wynton Marsalis and Herbie Hancock, among others. He leads on group ‘Good Vibes’ along with several other projects (including large ensemble ‘Parables’), and is an integral part of fellow Chicago native Marquis Hill’s Blacktet. He is currently based in New York City.

For more than two decades she’s been on the scene, bassist/vocalist/producer/label owner and now filmmaker Mimi Jones has reigned supreme, as a side woman to an impressive coterie of musicians and as a leader with three original recording projects on her own Hot Tone Music label. Born Miriam Sullivan in New York City on March 25, 1972, and was raised in the Bronx. Jones studied Music at the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory and has also studied with Linda McKnight, Lisle Atkinson, Barry Harris, Milt Hinton, Dr. Billy Taylor, Yusef Lateef. She has toured extensively for over 25 years throughout the seven continents and has played with such people as Frank Ocean, Kenny Barron, DD Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves, Tia Fuller, Roy Hargrove, Terri Lyne Carrington, Beyonce, Jason Moran, and more. Jones co-directs a multimedia interdisciplinary production with pianist ArcoIris Sandoval entitled The D.O.M.E. Experience, creating choreography, musical and visual works inspired by social injustices and environmental changes in our world. Voted#1 & #2 rising star by the DownBeat polls for 3 consecutive years, she currently works on a new project called The Black Madonna. The Berklee School of Music professor recently began collaborating with a trio called NiteBjuti featuring Vocalist Candice Hoyes, and sound chemist Val Jeanty.

Nappy Nina is an Oakland born writer, emcee and producer. Her debut album The Tree Act was released In January 2019 on Lucidhaus records and has received much acclaim. She has been featured on tracks with Yeaji, Quelle Chris, and Son Lux as well as many other talented artists. Her rap efforts have led her to perform around the U.S. as well as spread her west coast
chill to France, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, and Rotterdam. A nomad at heart, Nina is currently residing in Brooklyn but leaving every chance she gets.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Gabrielle Garo is a multi-instrumentalist flute, piccolo, alto, tenor, soprano saxophone, and clarinet. Performing locally and internationally, she is featured on the Grammy-nominated album, West Side Story Reimagined with the Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band. An ambassador of the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation, Garo has been presented with the 2019 Brooklyn Jazz Hall of Fame’s Deacon Leroy Applin Young Lioness Award, amongst various other awards and TV appearances. She has joined the Christian McBride Big Band on their first European tour and has also performed with artists such as Eddie Palmieri, Arturo O’Farrill, and Esperanza Spalding, just to name a few. Completing her Undergraduate Degree in Jazz Performance (‘19), and Master’s Degree in Arts Management & Entrepreneurship (‘20) at The New School, Gabrielle recently opened, The 62nd GRAMMY Awards, with Grammy winner, Lizzo.

A leading voice of the harp today, performer, composer, educator, and concert curator Brandee Younger defies genres and labels. Recently awarded Rising Star Harpist in Downbeat Magazine’s 2020 Critics Poll, she has performed and recorded with artists including Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Jack Dejohnette, Charlie Haden, Common, John Legend, The Roots,
Stevie Wonder and Lauryn Hill. In 2019, she released her fourth solo album Soul Awakening and her original composition “Hortense” was featured in the Netflix concert documentary, Beyoncé: Homecoming. This same year, Younger was selected to perform her original music as a featured performer for Quincy Jones and Steve McQueens’s Soundtrack of America. Younger’s ability to seamlessly inject the harp into arrangements and venues where it has historically been overlooked is a testament to her deep love for and exemplary command of the instrument. In addition to performing, Younger is on the harp faculty at New York University, and The New School, College of Performing Arts.

Savannah Harris is a New York City-based drummer, composer, and producer. She has performed alongside Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran, Kenny Barron, Aaron Parks, Terence Blanchard, Geri Allen, and Georgia Anne Muldrow. She currently tours with Etienne Charles’ Creole Soul, José James, Peter Evans’ Being + Becoming, the María
Grand Trio, Or Bareket, and avant-garde art collective Standing on the Corner. Harris is an active collaborator creating interdisciplinary works with The Second City improv group, Vail Dance Festival Artistic Director Damian Woetzel, and visual artist Mark Fox. As a bandleader, Harris has taken her trio to Wine and Bowties’ Feels V festival as well as the Kennedy
Center Millennium Stage. She was awarded the Harlem Stage Emerging Artist Award in 2019, and holds her master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music, under program director Stefon Harris. She is also a teaching artist for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz For Young People programs.

She walks in the Spirit was developed as part of Joel Ross’s Roulette 2021 Residency, made possible with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation. This performance is presented through Roulette’s GENERATE program, providing over 30 artists each year with in-depth creative and technical support.