Bria Skonberg has a confession: she's releasing two albums this year, one all-trumpet and one all-vocal, partly because she still hasn't figured out how to make the two coexist. "I'm always trying to find or write material that highlights them both in their best light," she says in this wide-ranging conversation with fellow trumpeter-vocalist Benny Benack III, recorded live aboard The Jazz Cruise.

The two have toured together, finished each other's sentences, and find themselves facing versions of the same creative questions: how do you balance two voices, build a discography with intention, and keep making music that matters?

Recorded on The Jazz Cruise 2026, the conversation covers the pair's prolific recording approaches (and the producer who keeps Bria from releasing six albums a year), the particular challenge of the trumpet as a lifelong pursuit, and what happens when the audience always wants more of whichever thing you just did less of. The episode also opens into a genuine conversation about jazz education and arts advocacy, sparked by audience questions, with both artists speaking from real experience in classrooms and clinics, not talking points.

A candid, energetic hour with two of the most compelling younger voices in jazz today.

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• Listen to more episodes of Jazz Cruises Conversations on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. The back catalog contains more than a hundred interviews from past sailings.
• Theme Music: Provided by Marcus Miller from his song "High Life" on his album Afrodeezia on Blue Note.