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Photo by Anna Yatskevich
Hailing from South Korea, composer, conductor and pianist Rin Seo encompasses the ever-changing nature of the ensemble jazz scene, through her 14 piece genre-defying Rin Seo Collective. Her chamber jazz orchestra brings together various moments from Seo’s musical upbringing; Korean folk music throughout her childhood, her training in Western Classical music in Seoul, to the jazz vibrations of New York City.
Through building her life in New York, to study jazz and composition at Berklee College of Music, her debut album ‘City Suite’ was born on October 3rd 2025. With the help of some huge names in the New York and global jazz scene, and with the support of Cellar Music Group, ‘City Suite’ is a 10 year reflection of Seo’s migration to the big apple, and the impact the city has had on her craft.
2025 has been pretty busy preparing for the album release! I have been working really hard to pay off my recording fees… I’ve been pursuing work in both classical and jazz, so I wrote some commissioned works and participated in a summer music camp, so there has been a lot going on! I composed some music for a unique ensemble, flutes, saxophone, basson, bass clarinet, french horn, vibraphone and piano. This was for the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute. Being influenced by orchestral classical and jazz orchestras, I am used to music on a large scale. I wanted to make my own signature ensemble that brings my compositional vision to life.
It was intriguing to hear more about how the Rin Seo Collective came to life and what Seo prioritised when building this musical force. Seo’s commitment to assembling just the right ensemble, to intentionally lift each piece to new heights cannot be understated. As legendary composer Jim McNeely says, “[Seo’s] imagination and skill have produced a marvelous album” that features a “big-enough band…to provide power when needed but can also be very lyrical and flexible when changing textures.”
I’ve played with a lot of the musicians I chose before, and some of the others I’ve listened to for a lot of my life. For example, Steve Wilson; I’ve never worked with him before but I really loved his sound. When I composed ‘Alone, but Not Alone’, I instantly thought about Steve’s sound. I asked him to join the project and he said ‘Definitely, yes!’ And Ingrid Jensen, I met her while I was studying, so she was an obvious one to consider for a few of the pieces. During a big band rehearsal, she spontaneously performed a solo on one of my pieces. Her playing that day felt like a surprising gift, and from then on, I dreamed of featuring her on my debut recording. I’m so thrilled that my dream became a reality.
I feel like in New York City there are a lot of women leaders in the jazz scene, however I really hope to see more women musicians in the big bands of the future. It does feel like these worlds, classical and jazz, are male dominated. I don’t feel a barrier as a woman in composition, things are getting better and better. I have been preparing this album since early 2024, and I actually started writing it 10 years ago, so it’s been a pretty long journey! It’s really nice to get good reviews and to hear everyone’s reaction.
The last 10 years have been me finding my own voice. I was very picky with the material I chose for the album. I definitely needed 10 years to bring this album together. There were a lot of takes and revisions to the pieces to find the best sound. I wanted to create a story, encompassing the changes in my music over this time. The first 3 pieces are about New York City, which has been a significant influence in my work as an artist. Also, I created pieces pointing to my personal tragedies, which helped me grow, as well as musical influences from films and other genres.
Throughout the album, we begin to recognise Seo’s personal trials, ambitions, struggles and triumph, as well as her musical development and focus over the last ten years. The album paints a picture of what it means to move to a new place, unravelling riveting grooves alongside melancholic melodies, paired with the huge sound of this exceptional jazz orchestra. Seo emphasises melody at the fore paired with artful counterpoint, rhythmic complexity, and stylistic blending. Seo’s influences are clear throughout the album, particularly through the inclusion of a reconstructed arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s ‘Blues a la Carte’. Furthermore, she highlights key emotional moments in her songwriting, heard in ‘Lullaby’, written to commemorate Seo’s late cousin and friend, Ben, and “others [she has] lost along the way,”.I was keen to find out more about Seo’s music past and how her education had got her to this impressive point in her career.
I studied classical music in Korea and my school forced me to write atonal music. At the time I was too young to understand it, so I didn’t like it! I wasn’t planning on being a composer in the future because I wasn’t open to composing different types of music, especially atonal music. I then built more of a curiosity about jazz harmony and improvisation, so I decided to study jazz in the United States and explore diverse music. My teacher recommended me to the Berklee College of Music, and this is where I experienced jazz, pop music, musical theatre… everything! I wanted to combine my classical language with everything I had learnt at Berklee, to make my unique sound. I had perfect pitch when I was young and I liked mimicking different sounds on the piano. This is what led me to pursue the instrument. Since then, from the age of 6, I’ve been classically trained on piano and when I was 17, I started writing music.
For me, deciding a theme in the music is really important. If someone asks me to compose a piece for them, I instantly just go outside; to the museum, or the park. I explore things and try to find the story I want to tell. Then I’ll sit in front of the piano and improvise, or write down the melodies that come into my head. Then they get bigger and bigger.
A remarkable debut, ‘City Suite’ takes listeners on an incredible path, as they are taken on a journey not just through New York, but through the musical and emotional soul of Seo herself. The album has received overwhelmingly positive reviews: praised as brilliant and self assured, whilst challenging the boundaries of genre and modern day jazz. The album has clear narrative depth, outlining Seo’s experiences of isolation, and community in New York City, whilst keeping true to her musical upbringing and the various layers of her cultural experience.
Next year I am just focussing on doing a lot of performances across the globe, so I am trying to find these opportunities. But as a big band leader, with a 14 piece chamber ensemble, it’s really hard to find these spaces to play in. I am doing my best, I’m hoping to have a lot of shows in the United States and Korea, and hopefully in Europe too. As I came to the United States 10 years ago, I don’t know much about the Korean jazz scene now, but I have heard that it is growing fast. I really hope I can keep the 14 piece ensemble together for these performances, if needed I can try to modify it, but each musician and instrument has such an important role that it will really change the music if that happens.
Rin Seo truly is a formidable force and a refreshing addition to the global jazz scene, a salient connector of cities, genres and listeners. From start to finish, City Suite is a work of brilliance, a true testament to what this wonderful and ambitious composer is capable of.
This interview was originally published in Women in Jazz Media December 2025 magazine
Last modified: January 15, 2026
