Sequoia ‘REDWOOD’ Snyder is a musician, composer, producer, and singer from Washington D.C. With bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Michigan State University, she has been mentored by jazz legends such as Rodney Whitaker, Jason Moran, and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Recently, she was among seven artists chosen for the 2026 Next Jazz Legacy program, founded by NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington. That honor came on the heels of a busy 2025 that saw REDWOOD performing as bandleader at the Kennedy Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center Dizzy’s Club. Additionally, she has headlined several venues across Michigan. Though native to Washington, D.C., REDWOOD found her musical footing and developed her sound in Detroit. She’s become deeply rooted in the city’s music community, proudly embracing it as a second home— a sentiment reflected in the way it has embraced her in return as one of its young lions. Snyder has continued to blend contemporary jazz and other Black genres with sophisticated individuality throughout her career. In 2022, she toured with international Afrobeat star CKay. She also played with Teri Lynne Carrington, Patrice Rushen, and Jazzmeia Horn as a Geri Allen Gathering Orchestra Fellow, and has appeared twice with the New York City Ballet. In 2023, she was featured on “NEXT at the Kennedy Center,” which aired on PBS. REDWOOD’s multimedia piece on Black joy, “Delight,” won Most Inspiring Performance Art Award at MSU’s 2021 Social Justice Festival. She won the Outstanding Piano award at JALC’s Jack Rudin Collegiate Jazz Competition in 2020 and performed alongside Kenny Barron and Cory Henry for NPR’s annual “A Jazz Piano Christmas” program. In 2019 she was selected for the Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency; JAS Aspen Academy (directed by Christian McBride); and DeeDee Bridgewater’s pilot program for emerging women musicians, The Woodshed Network. In December 2018, she performed with popular R&B band The Internet on its national tour in Detroit. Neither REDWOOD nor her music fits neatly into conventional boxes. Already distinguished as a musician, she showcased her vocal and production abilities on her debut album “Red 2 Go.” Subsequent singles include “Dub,” with vocal sensation Ekep Nkwelle, “Nana,” a tribute to her great-grandmother, and “Who We Be”, her arrangement of the DMX hit. Having covered remarkable ground in a short period of time, her newest project, INNER KNOWING, is a defining statement from a singular voice in jazz’s next generation.