Motema Music

Motema is dedicated to providing innovative promotion and comprehensive career support to recording and performing artists of power and distinction who have a fiercely original musical vision.

Founded in San Francisco by entrepreneur/performer Jana Herzen in collaboration with arts patrons and industry professionals, Motéma Music now makes its home in Harlem, New York City. The label specializes in jazz and other creative music that spans genres, cultures and generations. The company’s varied international roster of releases has received Grammy ® nominations in jazz, reggae and R&B. The label features a balance of established music icons such as NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston and Jamaican jazz legend Monty Alexander; innovative artists such as NAACP Image Award nominee Geri Allen, electro/acoustic pianist Marc Cary and maverick vocalist Rene Marie; while also giving chances each year to remarkable debut artists, such as Gregory Porter (whose debut Water came out on Motema in 2010 launching him to international fame), the innovative Jaimeo Brown whose extraordinary debut Transcendence in 2013 brought him to international acclaim and inspired a film of the same name, and the rapidly rising Pedrito Martinez Group whose eponymous 2013 debut has introduced them as an international sensation.