Sherry Winston

Sherry Winston stands among the foremost innovators in contemporary jazz, having released a series of landmark instrumental works during the 1980s and 1990s. Her approach aligns her with fellow pioneers Najee, Grover Washington, and Quincy Jones, while worldwide critical recognition has accompanied her output across every phase of her professional life. As a multi-Grammy nominee who also works as an educator and live performer, Winston maintains an especially refined equilibrium in her playing.

She first took up the flute at age 11, and while enrolled at Howard University she quickly began to establish her presence on the scene. Early tours with a jazz group that featured R&B chanteuse Roberta Flack led to her appointment as National Director of Jazz Promotions at Columbia Records, where she helped guide the trajectories of Miles Davis, George Michael, Hubert Laws, and the Marsalis Brothers. Despite the impact of that executive position, Winston’s central ambition remained a recording career of her own as a flutist. She put out Do It for Love shortly before her major-label, Grammy-nominated debut Love Is... appeared in 1980. Love Madness arrived in 1986; after an extended hiatus she returned with the fourth album Life Is Love and Love Is You in mid-2000, refining her contemporary jazz language into a distinctive and sought-after style.

Beyond her own recordings, Winston has been featured on The Today Show on NBC and on BET. She has shared stages with Chaka Khan, Regina Belle, Peabo Bryson, and Roy Ayers, and she has taken part in the Kentucky Center for the Arts Spring Fest, the Hartford Jazz Festival, and the Jackie Robinson Jazz Festival.