The Charlottesville Jazz Society, Unity of Charlottesville and WTJU welcome cellist/composer Janel Leppin and her group Ensemble Volcanic Ash for a 7:30 pm concert on April 24th at Unity.

Janel was last seen in Charlottesville with her husband, guitarist Anthony Pirog and the group Skullcap, at a very well received concert at Belmont Arts. Now at the peak of her powers as both a bandleader and a solo performer, she’s released two new projects of staggering beauty as well as vast personal and political insight. Pluto in Aquarius features her longstanding avant-jazz chamber unit, Ensemble Volcanic Ash, with a lineup of her most trusted collaborators including Pirog, bassist Luke Stewart, saxophonist Brian Settles and drummer Larry Ferguson. Slowly Melting is a riveting solo program that puts Leppin’s fuzz-saturated cello at the fore. She also contributes her accompaniment, crafting expansive soundscapes through guitar, bass, piano and synthesizer.

Janel will open the concert in Charlottesville with a solo set playing material from Slowly Melting, followed by a set from the whole Ensemble. Pluto in Aquarius, like all of Leppin’s music, is a deeply personal work, and it’s also intensely political. Leppin wrote about half of the music in the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, and the remaining half after the inauguration that followed. “So you’ll hear a lot of hopefulness here,” Leppin says, “as well as, of course, a lot of tension.”