BLUES.WEAVE
Jai Kobi Kaleo’okalani is a Seattle-based guitarist, producer, and poet. Graduating in 2025 with a BM in Jazz and Improvised Music from the University of Washington, they studied with Steve Rodby, Cuong Vu, Ted Poor, and Kassa Overall. Often performing under the moniker BLUES.WEAVE, their genre-defying work seamlessly blends the sonic worlds of improvised Black American music traditions and experimental sound production, conjuring immersive performances and recordings featuring resonator and electric guitars, drum machines, samplers, and electronics. Drawing from a deep well of ancestral inspirations and approaches, her music emphasizes themes of radical transformation and freedom-making by imagining futures through soundscape.
Their work as a soloist began with a DXARTS commission to compose and perform the beat suite “Let Loose Thy Soul: Black Alchemy and the Upper Arcana” for the 2024 SPAM New Media Festival at the Georgetown Steam Plant. Since then, Jai has been invited to present original music, multimedia performances, installations, and artist demonstrations at Town Hall Seattle, the Henry Art Gallery, Burke Museum, Frye Art Museum, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, and ARTS at King Street Station Gallery. During her Jack Straw residency, she will create an album following the story of the tarot’s major arcana.
