BIO

Nora Stanley is an improviser, composer, and songwriter based in Brooklyn. She variably uses saxophone, flute, clarinet, guitar, synthesizer, and voice in her work which spans jazz, rock and experimental music. She is deeply interested in the relationship between acoustic and synthesized sounds and plays with this throughout her work. As both a solo artist and a collaborator her music emphasizes openness, connection, and deep listening.

In 2023 Stanley released Distance of the Moon (Colorfield Records) with collaborator Benny Bock to acclaim from Fader, Downbeat, and The New York Times who called it “music with a sense of focus and intimacy, yet a kind of unknowability too.” She will release an album of songs entitled Glass in 2026. Stanley also frequently contributes woodwinds and more to others’ recording projects and has appeared on albums by Cassandra Jenkins, The New Pornographers, and Landlady.

Stanley leads a group that performs her songs, moving fluidly between rock band, experimental electronic, and improvised jazz. She is one third of the band Sprat and frequently collaborates in a duo with contemporary dancer Corinne Lohner. Other recent musical collaborations have included Fred Frith, Wendy Eisenberg, Cassandra Jenkins, Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics, and Simon Hanes’ Tsons of Tsunami. She has toured with Chris Morrissey, Caroline Rose, The New Pornographers, and Beth Orton. Stanley has performed across North America and Europe at venues including Big Ears Festival, Winter Jazz Festival, and The Jazz Gallery.

Stanley is a 2023 McDowell fellow and in 2025 was awarded a fellowship through New Music USA’s Next Jazz Legacy program. She holds a B.M. in Jazz Studies and a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Oberlin College and Conservatory.