Full Q&A along with links and streams can be found below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

Originally I hail from Ann Arbor Michigan but I now call Chicago my home.  The style of music I create is always an interesting question because honestly I write in so many styles!  On this latest album I’ve got a reggae tune, a rock tune, some blue eyed soul, some neo soul/new orleans style.  It goes all over the place because I listen to so much and I have a background in jazz but at the end of the day if I were to present it, I’d call my music retro-pop.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?

I started this whole crazy music career all thanks to an invitation in the mail to join my synagogue’s youth choir.  At a young eight years old I figured “well I like singing Hakunah Matatah, why not?”  Once I joined I was bitten by the bug.  When I was eleven I had decided not to audition for the school musical.  When I went to go see it I thought to myself “ why didn’t I audition for that?”  That was the moment realized that performing was what I was meant to do!  From then on it was all musicals and choirs and turned into me going to the Chicago College of Performing arts in a degree in jazz and contemporary voice.  What motivates me to stay the course is the feeling I get when I’m performing.  When I’m singing that’s when I feel authentically and one hundred percent myself.

How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?

The release of “Proof” is so vastly different then my other releases in so many ways.  The first is I decided to go big: I brought on horns and strings and decided to make it a full length, nine song album.  “Proof” is also different in it’s message.  My first album is titled “For Your Pleasure,” and my intent was to make other people happy.  Now of course I want to make people happy with my music, but “Proof,” isn’t about that outside validation.  “Proof” has been my validation of who I am and what myself and my band can create., hence why I titled it the way I did.

Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?

Of course!

What has been good has also been a very small issue.  What I find beautiful about the digital age is that the indie musician has a chance to put themselves out there on social media and start to gather following.  On the other hand because so many bands have that same opportunity I feel like it’s hard for me to carve my space out in the digital world for my music to be heard!  Otherwise technology has been an amazing tool, dropbox for charts and the ability to send drafts of mixes back and forth.  It’s so easy to record an idea I’ll have for a song, the positives are endless.

Where can we follow you online and hear more music?

I’m everywhere! The first place you can check out is my website at www.ellecasazza.com.

• Facebook
• Bandcamp
• Soundcloud
• Youtube
• Twitter: @Ellecasazza
• Instagram: @Ellecasazza.

You can also find my music also on itunes/spotify/amazon and soon pandora!

Anything else before we sign off?

Thanks for spreading the good word of independent music!