About
Jack Broza is a New York City born and based artist making music and sounds for a motley mix of settings. With conversational lyrics, and layered, complex production, his music leaps effortlessly between intimate moments and rich explosions of sound. Trained as a jazz and classical guitarist, Jack studied composition at Yale University and Afro-Cuban music while living in Havana.
In 2021 he released two EP’s. The first of which ‘Not That Deep’ (3/26/21) was described by Divide and Conquer as “complex, layered and funky all in one. A journey into all things experimental – I couldn’t even tell you who I would compare Broza to musically.”
The second, ‘Some Slant Rhyme I Wrote’ was praised by Under The Radar Magazine: “it flows masterfully and makes up an intriguing and accessible structure….his composition and songwriting are sights to behold.”
He is currently working on new music under his own name, with bands he co-leads (FORAGER, Typo.Biz), and with as a producer for other artists (Sarah Rossy, Nathan Reising).
Jack's music ranges in form as much as in genre; past endeavors include a two-hour dance-theater piece entitled Opera x Metamorphoses, four different concert installations commissioned by the Yale University Art Gallery presented in conjunction with new exhibitions, and the scores to multiple short film scores. For these projects and others Jack has been recognized with a number of accolades, including the Abraham Beekman Cox Prize in composition, a Best Shorts Competition award for film scoring, the Lewis P. Curtis Fellowship, the Tristan Perlroth Prize, and the Charles P. Howland Fellowship.
A third generation musician, Jack's earliest influences came from his father, Jamie Lawrence, and grandfather, Elliot Lawrence. He has studied Jazz with Wayne Escoffery, composition with Konrad Kaczmarek and Kathryn Alexander, and improvisation from Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey during the Banff International Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music.
Beyond the spheres of composition and performance, Jack advocates for broader education around underrepresented musics. As a leader of the Yale Jazz Collective, Jack organized free public concerts, masterclasses, and festivals, and in 2016 he helped lobby the university towards their new 'Jazz Initiative'. From 2018-2019 he embarked on a year-long oral history project about contemporary Cuban music, a documentary initiative aimed at preserving stories from musicians in Cuba and the Cuba diaspora funded by the Howland Fellowship. He currently teaches music at Ocean Hill Collegiate school in Brooklyn and in private lessons.