Biography

Born & raised in Michigan, Libbie Jo started playing flute in the high school band when she was only in the 6th grade because, “I could get out of classes Friday afternoons.” This led to a music scholarship at University of Michigan, and after graduating, a short-lived marriage moved her to Los Angeles, where she landed a gig playing with the San Francisco Ballet orchestra, touring both the United States and Canada. Studio work with Elmer Bernstein followed as well as tours and recordings with flutists Paul Horn and Buddy Collette, Latin pianist Joe Loco and pop star Shawn Phillips. She teaches flute privately and for over 13 years was Flute Instructor at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles.

In the late 60s, she started her own jazz/classical music ensemble because as she says, “So many people wanted flutes for weddings, I kept getting asked to put together groups. Eventually that led to the club scene, concerts and private events for groups such as the L.A. Women’s Society for the L.A. Philharmonic.”

Her album, “The Flute & Voice of Libbie Jo,” featured with Air Play Direct, was a finalist in an international jazz competition sponsored by EuroClubdeJazz and Sony. Her composition from that album, the bossa nova “Summer At Last, was featured the film “Made Up,” winner of the Independent Spirit Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Libbie Jo moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in January of 2020, but before leaving L.A. besides concerts and club dates with blues vocalist Barbara Morrison, she appeared as soloist at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, which has the world’s largest church organ, with Organists Stewart Foster and Christoph Bull.