BIOGRAPHY 

Estar Cohen is an award-winning vocalist, lyricist, composer, and educator from Toledo, OH and based in Detroit, MI. As a bandleader and vocalist, she has toured the United States with her original Jazz ensemble, gaining recognition for her compositions by the ASCAP Foundation, the International Society of Jazz Composers and Arrangers, and the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Series. In 2022, she was selected as a nominee to participate in the first Next Jazz Legacy program chaired by Terri Lynne Carrington and made possible by New Music USA, Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In 2018, she received the ASCAP Foundation’s Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award for her piece, Endings, and made her debut at the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island as bandleader.

Additional performance highlights include opening for Sheila Jordan at Lauren Kinhan and Janis Siegel’s Vocal Mania Series in NYC, premiering her work What We Can’t Know About Forever (quintet ft. String Quartet) at the Toledo Museum of Art, and working with her late mentor, Tad Weed, in his Freedom Ensemble alongside David Bixler, Andrew Bishop, Vinny Golia, Pete Siers, and Ken Filiano.

Cohen has released two albums as a bandleader: Waiting for Dawn (2014), and Live at Willis Sound (2017), and two albums as a co-leader: Talking Ear (2017) and On Creating (2019). She can also be heard on Heavy Color’s soundtrack for Invisible Hand (2020), a nature rights documentary produced by Mark Ruffalo.

In addition to her work as a musician, Cohen is a stand up comedian, improv/sketch actor, and writer; the values of both art forms supporting each with a strong foundation for listening, collaboration, and presentness. She performs regularly at the Planet Ant Theater and Go Comedy! in Detroit as both a solo act and with her musical improv group, Jeff For No Reason. To learn more about Estar’s comedy and upcoming shows, follow She’s Probably Joking.

Cohen is also an avid writer and published poet, penning lyrics for Jazz artists including Travis Aukerman, Ben Maloney, Dan Palmer, and the late Tad Weed.

Cohen graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance in 2015 from the University of Toledo where she studied with pianist Tad Weed, guitarist Jay Weik, and “father of vocalese” Jon Hendricks.

Cohen’s ensemble is dedicated to performing original music that reflects her exploration in poetry, composition, and the deep curiosity of the stories that define us. The project formed in 2011 and has since cultivated a rich, unique sound rooted in thoughtful songwriting and spirited improvisation. Cohen has released two albums with this ensemble (Waiting For Dawn 2014, Live at Willis Sound 2017) and has performed at festivals, recitals halls, concert houses, and clubs throughout the United States.

Cohen currently teaches voice, composition, and improvisation via her private studio. Her core values in teaching center on mindful, creative practices that focus on the needs of each artist as an individual. As an educator, she has presented clinics in composition, improvisation, voice, and improvisational theater at institutions including Albion College, Spring Arbor University, and ChiArts Chicago. Her work with young artists has been fostered by Earthwork Music, Young Artists at Work, the Faber Institute of Ann Arbor, and Youth Arts Alliance.