A lot of positive things have happened for trumpet player Jun Iida (pronounced Joon Ee-da) since the release of his critically acclaimed 2023 debut album, Evergreen.
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Now, Iida returns with his second album, Bellflower — a set of nine original compositions alongside one reimagined jazz tune — once again revealing a modern musical sensibility shaped by curiosity, craft, and a deep connection to his Japanese heritage.
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The son of Japanese immigrants, Iida grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, surrounded by a wide spectrum of sound. At home, his mother, a semi-professional koto (Japanese harp) player, kept culture and language close, teaching him Japanese folk and children’s songs as a way of staying rooted. Outside those walls, the city’s pulse offered something else entirely: jazz and blues, soul and rock ’n’ roll, and later hip-hop — all of it seeping into his musical identity and widening the emotional palette he would eventually bring to the trumpet.
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That relationship with the instrument began early. At nine years old, after hearing Louis Armstrong on his mother’s Hello, Dolly! album, Iida picked up the trumpet and never really put it down. Jazz remained his first love, but his path was never narrow: he embraced contemporary styles while also performing in classical orchestras and wind ensembles throughout high school and college.
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His academic journey mirrored that duality. He studied classical music at the Cleveland Institute of Music and jazz at Case Western Reserve University, where he also majored in aerospace engineering — a combination that speaks to both discipline and imagination. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles in 2015 for an engineering job, continuing to chase music in the margins until it became impossible to treat it as secondary. Evergreen was recorded during his time in L.A., a debut that introduced Iida as an artist with both precision and heart.
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From there, the journey kept unfolding. In Seattle, he performed with the Seattle Jazz Repertory Orchestra before making a pivotal decision: leaving engineering behind to fully commit to music. He later moved to New York City, formed the Jun Iida Group, and began building a live reputation that has taken the band through major venues on both coasts and across Southeast Asia, Japan, Taiwan, and China. Along the way, Iida has received touring and recording support from organizations including Chamber Music America and the South Arts Jazz Road Tour Grant.
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With deep ties to both Los Angeles and New York, Iida is joined on Bellflower by an exceptional ensemble of East and West Coast musicians: Zelda Harris (vocals), Chris McCarthy (piano, Rhodes), Masami Kuroki (guitar), Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), Jongkuk Kim (drums), and Takafumi Nikaido (congas).
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For Bellflower, Iida set out to honour the jazz tradition while writing music that reaches beyond the usual boundaries. “I didn’t want to make music just for other musicians,” he says. “I wanted to make music that reached people, whether they were jazz fans or not. The biggest difference between this album and my debut is that Bellflower is less esoteric and more focused on melody.”
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That intention is audible in the album’s warmth. Iida’s tone is rich and inviting, his phrasing lyrical without losing its edge, and the compositions carry traces of blues, soul, rock ’n’ roll, and hip-hop — influences that have followed him since childhood and now feel fully integrated rather than referenced.
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The title itself adds another layer. A bellflower is a delicate purple spring bloom, often associated with gratitude, humility, and friendship — meanings that hold personal weight for Iida. “I named the album Bellflower for a street in Cleveland, Ohio, where my friends and I used to gather during my college days,” he explains. “Although Bellflower is tinged with nostalgia, it’s also forward-looking.”
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In that balance, with memory and momentum, tradition and reinvention, Jun Iida finds his voice again, letting it bloom in full colour.
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