Fiona Ross Marks 100-Song Milestone With ‘Moments in My Notebook’ – A 21-Track Jazz Journey From London
Fiona Ross has never been one to follow convention, and her upcoming album, Moments in My Notebook, arriving May 30, 2025, is a testament to her boundless creativity and storytelling prowess. Ahead of the release, the singles “Let Your Soul Shine” and “I Don’t Want Money” are out now.
Moments in My Notebook is a chronicle of love, loss, discovery, and relentless creativity, marking her 100th original song release. Across 21 tracks of jazz-fueled storytelling, the award-winning vocalist, pianist, composer, and producer delivers an expansive, deeply personal collection that spans the intimate hush of a late-night ballad to the rhythmic pulse of Latin jazz, with moments of raw, stripped-down vulnerability woven throughout.
Ross, best known for carving her own lane in contemporary jazz, Latin rhythms, and vintage club sounds, crafted this album as both a journey through time and an exploration of the present.
“I still write everything in notebooks,” Ross shares. “Some songs started with a bass line, some with a lyric, some from something I overheard in a café. This album is 21 moments from those pages—21 moments in my life.”
The record is also a love letter to the past, featuring two songs she wrote as a teenager that have finally found their voice.
The album’s first single, “Let Your Soul Shine,” is a luminous anthem of resilience and self-worth, inspired by a moment of serendipity at a market stall.
“I saw a sign that said, ‘Let Your Soul Shine,’ and I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” she recalls. “I walked home, sat at the piano, and the song just poured out in ten minutes.”
The result is a soul-stirring piece that encourages listeners to find strength in their own light. Another standout, “Pirates in Paris,” is a romantic ode to freedom and artistic rebellion, inspired by Ross’s many visits to the French capital.
“Paris has always been my escape,” she says. “A place where I can just be me. This song is about that—about finding a space where you can exist without judgment.”
Then there’s “I Don’t Want Money,” a track that captures the struggle every musician knows too well.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to just make music without thinking about the cost of it all?” Ross muses. “But the reality is, we live in a world where money dominates everything. This song is for every creative who just wants to do what they love.”
And if that’s not enough, Ross also gifts us “Voices Unheard,” a haunting, socially charged reflection on forgotten histories and overlooked figures—with the closing lines name-checking Melba Liston, James Baldwin, Countee Cullen, Mary Lou Williams, and Ida B. Wells.
“China Told Me: The Live Session,” inspired by acclaimed vocalist, broadcaster, and cultural force China Moses, was rehearsed and recorded in a single day at Premises Studios, London, and features a remarkable, female-empowered lineup.
“China’s voice, her artistry, her humanity are important. She changes lives. She empowers,” Ross shares.
Collaborators include Mary Sho (championed by Moses herself), who wrote the second verse top line, and the groundbreaking J Steps ensemble — an award-winning group for female and non-binary jazz musicians under 18, founded and directed by Hannah Horton.
“I am absolutely thrilled to have J Steps making their recording debut on this song,” says Ross. “It was such a wonderful day. This song is meant to be enjoyed with the video, (releasing in June), where you can see the joy, love, and kindness in the room.”
Recorded with a stellar lineup of musicians, Moments in My Notebook features Gibbi Bettini (guitar), Derek Daley (bass), Marley Drummond (drums), Loren Hignell (saxophones, clarinet, flutes), Simon Todd (Percussion) and Dave Boa (trumpets), with guest appearances by Laura Impallomeni (trombone) Charlotte Keeffe (trumpet), Hannah Horton (saxophone), Diana Torti (vocals), and Migdalia van Der Hoven (drums). The album was engineered, mixed, and mastered across multiple studios, a labor of love that captures both the exhilaration of live jazz and the precision of a carefully honed composition.
With her 100th song milestone in mind, Ross closes the album with the poignant “100 Songs,” an introspective reflection on legacy and loss.
“What would my parents say if they were here?” she wonders. “Would they be proud? Would they understand what I’ve built?”
The song lingers, leaving the listener with a sense of unresolved contemplation—exactly what great art is supposed to do.
To celebrate the album’s release, Fiona Ross will embark on a UK and European tour, bringing these songs to life on stage. The official album launch will take place on June 4th at London’s newest, record-breaking jazz venue Soul Mama, where fans can experience the magic firsthand.
Fiona Ross – 2025 Tour Dates :
- May 31, 2025 – Highworth Jazz Festival, UK
Tickets & Info - June 4, 2025 – Soul Mama, London, UK
Venue Info - August 16, 2025 – Acorn Theatre, Cornwall, UK
Tickets & Info
With Moments in My Notebook, Fiona Ross cements her place as one of the most fearlessly original voices in contemporary jazz and singer-songwriter storytelling. One hundred songs deep, and she’s just getting started.
Hi Fiona! Good to see you again! Care to introduce yourself to the readers for those not familiar with your music?
Hi, and thank you so much for having me! Well, the short answer would be I am a vocalist, songwriter, pianist, producer, and journalist from London in the UK, and I am just about to release my 8th album. I have been working in the creative industry since I was a child, having initially trained in the theatre and worked in a range of areas, but eventually ended up as a contemporary jazz artist in my own right about nine years ago. I am so very grateful to be able to do what I do, and I really hope that my music connects with your readers.
Moments in My Notebook marks your 100th original song release—what emotions came up as you reached that milestone, and how did it shape the closing track, “100 Songs”?
That is such a good question, and because I didn’t really know how I felt, I wrote a song about it! I partly felt like 100 songs is a big achievement and one that should perhaps be celebrated, but I also felt like it is just a number. I don’t have – and have never had – any kind of, target. I just do my thing and will keep doing it for as long as I can and for as long as I have ideas. When it was time to write the final song for the album, I reflected on that milestone. 100 songs. What does that really mean? My parents always wanted me to have a career in the creative industry, and I do miss them terribly, so my 100th song is to my parents, asking them what 100 songs means and wondering what they would say about this milestone, if they were here. That song will be hard to perform live.
You’ve said each of these 21 tracks is a moment from your life, jotted in a notebook. How do you decide which of those private moments are ready to be turned into songs?
I went through my old notebooks, and there were two songs that I wrote when I was a teenager, which I thought would be nice to include. One of them had no lyrics at all, so I decided, for a bit of fun, to turn that into a song about not knowing what the song was about, ‘I Found A Song in My Notebook’. But apart from those 2, I just kept writing and stopped when I reached the 21st song, to be honest. My songs are always written about that exact moment in time, when I am sitting at my piano, and so there is a range of emotions in the album, and just like all of us, moments vary. So, for example, ‘Running Into Your Arms’ was a moment reflecting on a past relationship, while ‘Voices Unheard’ was born out of my passion for wanting everyone to be heard and the people who paved the way before us.
“Let Your Soul Shine” was sparked by a sign at a market stall—how often do real-life fragments like that turn into music for you?
All the time! Everything I write about comes from real moments. They may be other people’s experiences that have affected me, or my own experiences, but it is always someone’s truth. That song was really interesting for me, because I just came home and sat and the piano and wrote it in about ten minutes. It just came out. I didn’t change anything. Spending time at that market, seeing people just enjoying themselves, dancing, singing, and talking, was really wonderful to see. I think we all need to experience more of that. I am inspired all the time by the people around me, and I am so grateful for that. I have a wonderful quote from a fellow Canadian, the inspirational Celine Peterson who wrote the liner notes for my ‘Red Flags and High Heels’ album and she said ‘Being able to connect with a singer/song writer who can find the strength to share such deeply personal words with us in such a way that makes us feel safe, is rare’. Writing music is just a form of therapy for me, and I really love that people can connect to my music.
You’ve always defied genre expectations—how do you stay creatively free while working in a genre like jazz that’s often steeped in tradition?
I grew up with a beautifully diverse musical upbringing. My Mum loved opera, my Dad loved traditional jazz, while my older brother was into more rock-based music and the great songwriters. I used to sneak into his bedroom and go through his vinyl, loving Rickie Lee Jones, Patti Smith, Blondie, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, 10CC, and Steely Dan. As a teenager, I was into Prince, Stevie Wonder, Whitney, and all the great music from that time. But my own connection with jazz actually came through two artists. I was classically trained as a pianist and never covered jazz in my early lessons, but I found Oscar Peterson – and oh my! I spent hours and hours trying to play his music and wishing my hands were bigger. And when I was about 12, I was told that I needed to listen to Billie Holiday if I wanted to understand jazz. I did, and she taught me that music is where you put your pain. Put all of that together, along with my musical theatre training, and that is what shapes my sound, I guess! I have never been one thing. My musical mind has all of those things going on all the time, and I never try to write in any particular genre – I just go with the flow.
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