Tracey Yarad

BIO

Australia-born, New York-based Tracey Yarad is a pianist and singer-songwriter whose work blends jazz sensibility with fearless storytelling. Her career spans continents and reinventions—from touring Australia with her original music and landing a Top 40 single in the ’90s, to a seven-year residency in five-star hotels across Japan, to founding and running a music school for eighteen years in the Blue Mountains, before ultimately relocating to New York City.

Possessing a deeply expressive voice and a gift for crafting emotionally resonant songs, Yarad has established herself in New York’s jazz and singer-songwriter scene, performing at venues including the 55 Bar, Soapbox Gallery, The Bitter End, and Birdland. Her collaborators include Grammy-nominated Chilean vocalist Claudia Acuña, Grammy-winning pianist Jon Cowherd, and avant-garde saxophonist Dave Binney. Her duo project with pianist Jim Ridl, Lost in Translation—a poignant blend of story and song drawn from her years in Japan—was singled out by award-winning New Yorker journalist Steve Futterman, who noted that “if demanding experience leads to hard-won wisdom, Yarad and Ridl will have much to impart.”

Her critically acclaimed one-woman musical memoir, All These Pretty Things, marks a bold new chapter in her artistic voice. Premiering at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe—where she has now performed for two consecutive years—the show has toured extensively across the UK, including London, and returned for two successful seasons at the Adelaide Fringe. In 2026, the production earned dual honors at Adelaide, winning both a weekly award and the final Award for Best Music Production. A raw and deeply personal work, the show transforms the fallout of a 23-year marriage into a gripping, musically rich and theatrically bold narrative. 

Alongside her performance career, Yarad has developed a parallel practice as a jazz photographer, becoming a sought-after visual artist within New York’s music community. Her work has been featured in DownBeat, Guitar Player, and Drum Scene magazines, capturing many of the city’s leading musicians with the same sensitivity and depth that defines her music.