Janel Leppin

Janel Leppin
Ensemble Volcanic Ash performing at the Bohemian Caverns, led by Janel Leppin
Born	1981 Vienna, Virginia
Residence	Washington D.C.
Occupation	Musician and Composer
Musical career
Genres	Experimental, Avant-Garde, Modal Jazz, Free Jazz, Classical, Ambient and Rock
Instruments	Cello, Electronics, Vocals, Loop Pedal
Labels	Wedderburn Records
Website	janelleppin.com

Janel Leppin (born 1981) is an American cellist and multi-instrumentalist. Her work has been shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at many international festivals worldwide including the High Zero Festival, the Swedish Women in Jazz Festival and the Washington Women in Jazz Festival. She has acted as curator for works shown at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the ISSUE Project Room.

Leppin has released three solo recordings, Mellow Diamond (2016), Songs for Voice and Mellotron (2016), and American God (2017), on her record label Wedderburn Records. She collaborates as part of Janel and Anthony with her husband, American guitar player Anthony Pirog. Recordings of her work as a composer and side musician appear on Touch, Tzadik, Sub Pop, Editions Mego, Ideologic Organ and Cuneiform Records. Her work uses experimental, avant-garde, modal jazz, free jazz, classical, ambient and rock influences.

Leppin recorded two albums with Anthony Pirog as "Janel and Anthony": one self-titled and self-released recording in 2007, and Where is Home, released by Cuneiform Records, in 2012. A Fifth Anniversary Collectors Edition LP was released of the duo, recorded in 2010. In March 2016, they released the single "Sweet and Sour," and announced their forthcoming album, Glover Park.

In February 2016, Leppin started a label called Wedderburn Records which releases "music which has a magical or mystical essence." The label's first release was "Sweet and Sour" by Janel and Anthony, followed by Leppin's first two solo albums, Mellow Diamond and Songs for Voice and Mellotron. Leppin plans to release solo work by female artists including American pedal steel guitar legend Susan Alcorn and DC avant pop vocalist Adriana Lucia-Cotes.