Natasha Blackwood

Natasha Blackwood is a singer/songwriter, composer, and saxophonist from Newfoundland, Canada.  Her 2024 album of original songs, Love Songs for Good Machines, received national and international critical acclaim and radio play, as well as multiple nominations for ECMA and MusicNL Awards, and a win for MusicNL 2025 Jazz Artist of the Year.

Blackwood’s performances have been described as refreshing, humourous, humble, and playful at the same time. Her voice, quiet yet confident, flits effortlessly through complex music with ease, tenderness and sass, paired with her tenor saxophone stylings like a fine wine. For her showcase at Contact East 2026, she will be performing with her quartet, though she has been known to appear solo on piano, or as a duo, septet, or even with a full Jazz Orchestra, when the stars align. Ian Lomax of The Jazz Journal (UK) described her original compositions as “…a delight. Fun and entertaining at one level, but worth a deeper dive into the lyrics to explore exactly where she is coming from… a rare talent”.

Music has brought her to Brazil, Europe, and all over Canada, but she’s always a baygirl at heart. She can de-bone a fish, boost your car, drive stick with a hydraulic clutch, and make a mean jiggs dinner. She has been compared to Joni Mitchell and she’s obsessed with Ella Fitzgerald, but she’ll always make time to play campfire chords on guitar and sing “fishing in the dark” with her family.