Mariel Bildsten’s ‘Backbone’

In recent years, the arrival of the holidays in Santa Barbara has brought with it an array of traditions, one of which has been the regular appearance of S.B.-raised and increasingly acclaimed N.Y.C.-based jazz trombonist Mariel Bildsten on the SOhO calendar between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Of course, that tradition is one of many that will take a holiday in this COVID-afflicted year, a period without live music.

But the gifted Bildsten is arriving in a different fashion this year, having just released her debut album, Backbone, on the Outside in Music label. The trombonist-bandleader grew up locally, studied at Manhattan School of Music, and has played with such artists as the Arturo O’Farrill Afro-Jazz Orchestra (in which she is the lead trombonist), and in the rock group Brass Against. She has performed in an impressive array of high-profile N.Y.C. venues like Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Carnegie Hall, and the Apollo Theater. Gigging prospects, whether Dizzy’s or SOhO, have of course taken a huge nosedive since March. “Unfortunately, live performances and touring have really slowed down,” she said in a recent interview. “The upside is that all of us have become excellent at-home recording studio musicians.”