Rachel Bade-McMurphy is a seeker of sound whose musical roots traverse the depths of Jazz, blues, rock, grunge, country, R&B and more.   Composing and improvising from a young age, she was captivated by Jazz from the first time she heard the middle school jazz ensemble and soon became engulfed by the sounds of classic jazz from Count Basie, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday and more.  These sounds melded with her early rock and pop influences to create a unique cross-genre-fusion that has become the sound of her “Imagine Collective”.  She has released 2 CDS of all-original compositions which have received international airplay.  

She received her Bachelor’s degree from WSU in Pullman, WA, where she began as a clarinet major but eventually submitted to the gravitational pull towards saxophone and jazz voice.   As an undergraduate, she was the 2-time recipient of “Outstanding college soprano vocal soloist” at the Lionel Hampton Jazz festival soloist competition in 2003 and 2004, receiving the honor of performing the main stage with members of the Lionel Hampton Big band including Kuni Mikami, Christian Fabian and Wally “Gator” Watson.  She also participated in the IAJE “sisters in Jazz” mentor program and wrote background music for Emmy-nominated promo spots for KHQ-Q6 of Spokane. 

After spending a decade teaching music lessons and working as a freelance artist, she attended Eastern Washington University to pursue a Masters degree in Jazz Pedagogy.  It was during this training that she realized that the best way to help her students and local community to learn about jazz was to begin connecting them to it directly.  This endeavor which started as a single concert and festival became “Imagine Jazz”, a non-profit organization presenting legendary guest artists from New York and around the globe to our Spokane community.  Imagine has received grant funding from Spokane Arts, Washington Arts, the Saranac Community Building fund for their programs which celebrate Jazz heritage and bring world-class artists which have included Jeremy Pelt, Logan Richardson, Marcus Strickland, Carl Allen, Jaleel Shaw Jonathan Barber, Aaron Parks, Vincent Herring and more.  

Bade-McMurphy serves as the woodwind specialist in the Mead band program, teaches adjunct at EWU and Whitworth  and teaches private lessons, workshops and camps in the Spokane area through her studio Songvine Music as well as through Imagine Jazz.  She is a faculty member at Holy Names Music Center, and works as a radio DJ, hosting  “Afternoon in Jazz” Friday afternoons on Spokane Public Radio.