About Cassie
Cassie Kollman is a jazz singer/songwriter, teaching artist, and bandleader in the Boston area. Her songwriting is introspective and emotionally nuanced, blending lyrical depth with harmonic complexity and vocal ambition to create a distinctive jazz-rock sound. She is a dedicated student of jazz, R&B, and blues, and she bridges these languages together through contemporary vocal improvisation, drawing elements from each style. Cassie’s specialization is lyrical collage improvisation: a process of weaving together text from multiple sources within the American popular music canon to construct new narratives from familiar origins.
Cassie has performed as a soloist and bandleader at Rhythmscape Music Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, the Masonic Hall of New York City, and Arts at the Armory in Somerville, MA. Cassie’s ensemble credits range from performances with Sweet Honey in the Rock at the Boston Institute for Contemporary Art to world music premieres with the The Afghanistan Freeharmonic Orchestra.
Cassie released her first album, Lady in Shoes, in 2021 and will publish her second record, Mixed Messages, produced by Brian Charles (Moby, John Lockwood, Dispatch) in October 2026. Mixed Messages is a deeply collaborative album which will debut Cassie’s contemporary jazz quintet, and showcase improvisation and ensemble chemistry as the pillars of the record. The band’s shared language is sensitive, responsive, and intimately collaborative, leaving room for each member’s voice inside a well-established groove.
Beyond her original works, Cassie’s repertoire is as eclectic as her improvisation, ranging from Ornette Coleman and Otis Redding to Erykah Badu, Tori Amos, and Esperanza Spalding. Cassie’s work reflects a sophisticated cross-genre sensibility, integrating modern stylistic approaches while remaining rooted in the foundational blues language of Black American musical traditions.
Cassie holds a Master of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Music from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She is certified in Somatic Voicework™ (The Lovetri Method, Levels I & II) and currently serves on the Music faculty at Bunker Hill Community College, where she teaches Applied Voice, Songwriting, and History of Rock and Roll. She programs and performs weekly services as the Director of Music at the Hillside Community Church. Her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Linguistics, along with her professional background in community mental health, special education, and Buddhist studies, inform her student-centered and adaptive teaching style. Cassie offers a somatic, inquiry-based approach that helps students cultivate technically proficient, stylistically fluent, and emotionally expressive vocal artistry, with particular attention to improvisation and authentic communication.
As an artist, educator, and community member, Cassie is passionate about arts accessibility, music education, public education, and live community events.