JJJJJerome Ellis Announces New Album Vesper Sparrow – A Groundbreaking Exploration of Stuttering, Blackness, and Sacred Sound

"JJJJJerome Ellis bends time into something sacred." This is not just metaphor—it’s the foundation of their art. The Black disabled Grenadian-Jamaican-American artist, performer, composer, and storyteller returns this fall with Vesper Sparrow, a bold and expansive new album out November 14 on Shelter Press.

Ellis’ work has been described as “rule-shattering” (This American Life), “astonishing” (The Guardian), and “imbued with emotion and Black history” (NPR Music). With their sophomore LP, they further cement their place as one of the most original interdisciplinary artists working today—redefining the relationship between music, speech, silence, and time.

Honoring the Stutter, Bending Time

JJJJJerome’s artistic practice—spanning saxophone, hammered dulcimer, electronics, organ, voice, and spoken word—centers their lived experience as a person who stutters. The very name “JJJJJerome” stems from the letter they most often stutter on: their own name.

Their work doesn’t attempt to fix the stutter—it celebrates it. In Ellis’ hands, the stutter becomes a sonic event, a poetic rupture, and a radical reframing of temporality itself.

About Vesper Sparrow

Composed of six tracks—including the four-part piece “Evensong”—Vesper Sparrow draws from sacred Black musical traditions, granular synthesis, ambient electronics, indie rock textures, and Caribbean/Black American sonic histories.

At its core, the record is a conversation between sound and silence, between tradition and experimentation. Ellis integrates stuttering as both subject and structure. In fact, a recorded stutter becomes the hinge between “Evensong, Part 2” and the title track, “Vesper Sparrow.”

“The stutter becomes a structuring moment,” they explain—offering a suspended space, a break in linear time that invites both reflection and transformation.

The album also features collaborations with Haruna Lee, James Harrison Monaco, Ronald Peet, and S T A R R (busby), contributing to a collective act of sonic communion.

A Sacred, Interconnected Practice

Ellis lives and works from a monastery in Norfolk, VA, on traditional Nansemond and Chesepioc land, with their wife, poet-ecologist Luísa Black Ellis. Their music is deeply influenced by spiritual lineage, ancestral memory, and natural time. From improvising along to Coltrane as a teen to earning accolades from Claudia Rankine and Pitchfork, Ellis has continually forged new pathways—personal, philosophical, and artistic.

They are a Fulbright Fellow, a Creative Capital grantee, and a widely recognized voice in contemporary performance, having appeared at the Venice Biennale, Whitney Museum, Rewire Festival, The Shed, and National Sawdust.

Tour Dates – Fall 2025

• Sept 12 – Chicago, IL @ Sound & Gravity

• Sept 27 – Cincinnati, OH @ Talk Low

• Oct 3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Roulette

• Oct 9 – Norfolk, VA @ ODU Literary Festival

• Oct 18 – Vancouver, BC @ Vancouver New Music Festival

• Oct 19 – Portland, OR @ The Old Church

• Oct 21 – Seattle, WA @ Vera Project

• Oct 24 – Oakland, CA @ The Crown via Lo-Fi Oyster Co

• Oct 25 – San Francisco, CA @ Museum of African Diaspora

• Nov 1 – Charlottesville, VA @ Fralin Museum of Art

• Nov 8 – Montréal, QC @ Voice and Media

Tracklist – Vesper Sparrow

1. Evensong, Part 1 (for and after June Kramer)

2. Evensong, Part 2 (for and after James Harrison Monaco)

3. Vesper Sparrow (feat. Haruna Lee, James Harrison Monaco, Ronald Peet, S T A R R (busby))

4. Savannah Sparrow (for and after Kenita Miller)

5. Evensong, Part 3 (for and after Jessica Valoris)

6. Evensong, Part 4 (for and after okcandice)

JJJJJerome Ellis does not just make music—they shape time. Vesper Sparrow is a breathtaking act of suspension, disruption, and care. It’s a sacred space, a poetic offering, and a profound expansion of what music—and voice—can be.