Chyna Beals – Finding Her Voice on the Trombone
On May 31st, pianist Aaron Hill interviewed Chyna Beals, a young jazz trombonist and vocalist, to discuss her musical journey and current projects. Liz Fixsen also interview Beals on June 13th by phone.
Beals is the first in her family to pursue a professional music career, although her great-grandfather was a keyboardist who played jazz standards like “Take the A Train,” and her grandfather on father’s side was a singer for Morgan State. Her mom, a vocalist who performed with some of the well-known figures in R&B of the time, would take her grade-school-age daughter to her recording sessions and open mics and performances. So this genre became a strong influence in Beals’s musical life.She took up the trombone in middle school because she really wanted to be in the band, but the trombone was the only instrument left. As a vocalist, Beals now says she particularly likes the trombone because she can “sing” through it.
She learned to play classical trombone before encountering jazz at the Baltimore School for the Arts, but she faced challenges due to limited opportunities in the school band. The teacher favored the more experienced players, and the fledgling learners were expected to learn just by listening. However, she began participating in jazz combos there, encouraged by Ed Hrybyk, who had joined the faculty. She names as her influences jazz trombonists J.J. Johnson, Jeff Bradshaw, and particularly Melba Liston, a female jazz trombonist, about whom a book was written.
Beals went on to Peabody, graduating in 2023– the first college graduate in her family, earning a bachelor’s in music performance. While at Peabody, Sean Jones, the director of jazz studies, set a requirement that students attend at least three jam sessions and write a report on the experience. (At one of these sessions, she and Aaron Hill became acquainted.) The jam sessions made her realize that she had to find time to learn the tunes and “get down the changes.” Clarence Ward III and Aaron Hill were particularly influential at Ward’s Monday night jam sessions when they were in Terra Café and at R House. She currently participates in Obasi Akoto’s Tuesday night “Bright Moments” sessions at Keystone Korner.
Beals records under the name “Chynatown.” After a negative studio experience, she chose to record and produce her music herself. Other than a short course in recording at BSA, she is mostly self-taught. She has released three original vocal singles, “Off,” “Sanctuary,” and “Picture Perfect” (SoundCloud only, under @chynatown1x), singing in a high, sweet voice over ethereal, hypnotic instrumental tracks. She is currently working on an EP incorporating both trombone and vocals, while searching for her own style and her own niche, believing that the trombone is part of what makes her distinctive. She describes her style as feeling-driven, spanning R&B, indie, and other genres. She says, “If I can’t feel a song, I just can’t do it. It just doesn’t come out correctly.” Hill comments that for him, Beals’s playing at jam sessions seems fun, playful, and adventurous. But when she is recording her own music, it’s more worked out ahead of time, while still improvised.
Her past performances in Baltimore include a birthday concert December 13th, 2024 at Old Major, an eclectic event space and bar; a July 4th concert with the Charles Funn Big Band at Middle Branch Park; a May 2023 Sowebo Arts and Music Festival with ThaMuthafunkaholX band; and a May 10th, 2025 performance with the Morgan State University Jazz Ensemble. She plays in wedding band ensembles such as The Bachelor Boys. At the time of the interview, she was planning a second performance at The Hargrove in Baltimore on June 27th, with vocalist H.B. Trill. Her first performance was on Valentine’s Day, when she invited her mom to the stage to sing “Caught Up in the Rapture,” by Anita Baker.
In between gigs, she supports herself by barbering at a shop in Sherwood, off of Northern Parkway, a skill she learned during Covid, when she cut her own hair. She gets a lot her customers from the music world, after doing that show at Morgan State. There is a strange connection between her barbering and her music. When all the barbers’ clippers are all going at once, they make a little buzzing sound that is almost musical! Of course, musicians tend to hear music in many aspects of everyday life, and that is true of this woman who sings with her horn.
–by Aaron Hill and Liz Fixsen
Aaron Hill is a jazz pianist well-known in Baltimore and beyond, playing in most of the major venues. He has done previous interviews for the BJA newsletter.
Liz Fixsen is a small-time jazz performer and big-time jazz fan, a ubiquitous presence in the Baltimore jazz scene. She edits and writes for the BJA newsletter and serves on the board.