Composers & Arrangers - Claire Devlin

Claire Devlin is a saxophonist and composer based in Montreal. She leads the Claire Devlin Quartet and released her debut album, “Anyone,” in 2020. Claire is also a co-leader of the collective Bellbird, which released its first album “Root in Tandem” in 2023. Claire performs regularly with various ensembles including the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra, the Plastic Waste Band, l’Orchestre national de jazz de Montréal, Rommel Ribeiro, Thus Owls, Christine Jensen’s Equal=Orchestra, Unessential Oils, and Tommy Crane.

Claire grew up in Ottawa and started playing saxophone at the age of twelve. In 2012, she was the recipient of the Rising Young Star award at the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival. Soon after, she moved to Montreal to study music at McGill University. Claire attended the Banff Jazz & Creative Music Workshop in 2017 where she met and studied with several renowned musicians including Vijay Iyer, Linda Oh, Tyshawn Sorey, Jen Shyu, and Stephan Crump. In 2020, Claire received a master’s degree in jazz performance and composition from McGill. In the eleven years since moving to Montreal, Claire has performed with musicians such as John Hollenbeck, Christine Jensen, Jean-Michel Pilc, Okkyung Lee, P.J. Perry, Anna Webber, and Matt Mitchell.