PIANIST, ORGANIST, & COMPOSER HINDY BARE SPOTLIGHTS JILLO, HER JAZZ DEBUT CENTERED ON THE JILL KER CONWAY SUITE, FOR WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 2026

 

CONWAY WAS THE FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF SMITH COLLEGE AND A LEADING HISTORIAN OF WOMEN’S LIVES AND INSTITUTIONS

 

ORIGINALLY RELEASED IN 2025, JILLO IS RE-INTRODUCED DURING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH AS A TRIBUTE TO JILL KER CONWAY, WITH TRACKS RANGING FROM JAZZ QUINTET TO SOUL-JAZZ TRIO

 

Jillo is the debut album by San Diego pianist, organist, and composer Hindy Bare. Produced by pianist and arranger Anthony Smith, the small-group jazz recording features Bare on piano and organ with drummer Richard Sellers, bassists Rob Thorson and Kevin Cooper, guitarist Hank Easton, and saxophonist Dan Boissy. Recorded in San Diego, the album marks Bare’s first full-length statement as a leader following a long, nonlinear performance history across blues, R&B, and other ensemble-based music.
 

Originally released independently in 2025, Jillo is being re-centered during Women’s History Month — March 2026 — around its core work, the three-part Jill Ker Conway Suite. “Women’s History Month is a good opportunity to recognize women that may otherwise have been overlooked,” Bare says.
 

The album also includes three outside selections: Macy Gray’s “I Try,” J Dilla’s “Clap Your Hands,” and Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely.” Framed as a tribute to Jill Ker Conway, Jillo moves between jazz quintet settings and more stripped-down soul-jazz trio performances, reflecting Bare’s background in blues-based ensemble playing and groove-centered music.
 

Bare plays a Hammond B-3, Fender Rhodes, and Yamaha C8 concert grand piano on the recording. “I much prefer acoustic and mechanical instruments to electronic keyboards,” she shares. “The overtones and subtlety of acoustic piano is unmatched by any reproduction of or imitation of that sound that I’ve encountered — same with the Rhodes. Hammond B-3 with Leslie speaker is a whole other universe, which people devote their lives to studying. I was happy to access just a piece of that for this project.”
 

The album takes its title from Jill Ker Conway (1934–2018), the Australian-born American historian and memoirist who served as the first woman president of Smith College from 1975 to 1985 and later received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama. Conway rose to prominence at a moment when women’s authority within academic institutions was still actively contested. Her work emphasized competence, continuity, and mentorship. Bare encountered Conway’s writing outside formal academic study and responded to its clarity and practicality.

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“I kind of liked the fact that she labored behind the scenes and wasn’t looking for recognition, per se,” Bare says. “She was just trying to get good work done.” She was equally drawn to Conway’s approach to leadership as responsibility. “Every time any woman worked for her, she tried to make sure when she left the job that the women that worked for her also got a chance to move up into the next stage of their career,” Bare says. “She was a feminist, but she also was a humanist. She tried to help everybody advance themselves.”

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That ethic parallels Bare’s own musical path. Jillo is her first album as a leader following years of work across multiple genres. Classically trained as a pianist, Bare spent extended periods performing in dance bands after living in France, where she played reggae and worked within a broader African-diasporic music scene.

After stepping away from full-time performance while raising her children, Bare re-entered the bandstand through the blues, spending roughly a decade performing with San Diego guitarist and vocalist Lenny “Fuzzy” Rankins. “Fuzzy is a consummate entertainer,” Bare says. “Any room he goes into, he will have that room enlivened within ten minutes. He manages to speak to whoever’s there — anyone and everyone in the room. He’s somebody who can make you laugh with a guitar solo.”

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“The blues is so revealing of talent,” she continues. “ The audience isn’t distracted by unusual forms or crazy harmony, and people can really hear and understand what you are doing. And without the groove, it’s really obvious when it’s not good. Any crowd can hear if it’s just a little bit wrong.”

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During the pandemic, Bare returned to formal jazz study, enrolling in the master’s program in Jazz Studies at San Diego State University, where she studied with Richard Thompson and Anthony Smith. Earlier in her development, she studied with pianist and composer Donald Brown, whose work with the Jazz Messengers shaped her understanding of jazz history and lineage. Bare entered the studio initially intending to record a single piece. “I only wanted to do ‘Wiser,’” she says. “And the producer said, ‘As long as you’re in the studio, you might as well record a whole album.’”

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Smith ultimately produced the album and contributed piano on one track. “He’s a great arranger and producer,” Bare says. “I was lucky to get him to sign on for this.” Of stepping fully into a jazz recording environment as a leader, she adds, “It’s kind of dazzling and exciting and scary.”

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The album is sequenced around Bare’s Jill Ker Conway Suite, which she composed out of chronological order before arranging it into a three-part arc. The record opens with “Wiser,” the suite’s final movement, which Bare associates with Conway’s later years. “She had written all these books and she had mentored all these people,” Bare says. “She had helped a lot of people, so she was wiser — a little less chaotic, a little more peaceful. She had found her groove.”

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“Silvery Grey,” the first piece Bare composed for the suite, appears later in the sequence. The composition draws from Conway’s childhood on a sheep farm in Australia and from a phrase in her writing describing the landscape. “She used a phrase saying that the foliage was silvery gray,” Bare says. Built around a 12/8 feel, the piece reflects what Bare describes as “this swirling natural world that she could kind of run free in.”

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The suite’s middle movement, “Verve,” turns to Conway’s turbulent middle years. “Things got a bit chaotic for her in the middle of her life,” Bare says, referencing the cultural displacement, heavy drinking culture, and institutional barriers Conway described as she built a career within academic environments that limited women’s advancement.

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Around the suite, Jillo incorporates a small number of outside selections that Bare has lived with over time. Macy Gray’s “I Try” appears early in the sequence. “Her voice wasn’t what traditionally would be thought of as commercial,” Bare says. “But she owned her own voice. She owned her uniqueness.” There was something singular about the rise of Gray, with her sui generis voice, back in the ‘80s — which makes “I Try” perfect to tip a hat to Women’s History Month.

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J Dilla’s “Clap Your Hands” reflects Bare’s attraction to repetition and atmosphere. “I just love this song” she says. “I like the vibe he creates. He’s able to really capture a mood.” The selection acknowledges Dilla’s influence on contemporary rhythmic language absorbed across genres, including modern jazz.

 

Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” follows. “Stevie is probably one of my favorite musicians ever,” Bare says. “His music has been a soundtrack to so many people’s lives. You can play his tunes in jazz, and they sound great.” The album closes with an extended musician’s mix of “Wiser”.  Of the alternate take Bare notes, “It builds and everything. It’s nine minutes long. It’s more organic.”

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Returning to Conway’s example, Bare frames Jillo around the value of hard work over clout. “She wasn’t chasing recognition,” Bare says. “She was just trying to get good things done. I think we could use more people like that.”

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Tracklisting

All tracks written by Hindy Bare except where noted.

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Wizer
I Try
Silvery Grey
Clap Your Hands
Isn’t She Lovely
Verve
Wiser (Musician’s Mix)