Department of Music

Biography

JoVia Armstrong is a percussionist, sound artist, composer, and educator from Detroit, MI. She endorses several companies, including Sabian, Gon Bops, QSC, and Icon Pro Audio. In 2015, she won the Best Black Female Percussionist of the Year through the Black Women in Jazz Awards and received the 3Arts Siragusa Foundation Artist Award in 2011 for her work as an educator. JoVia sits on the executive board of Chicago's AACM as Secretary. She has performed with Omar, Res, Syleena Johnson, Frank McComb, El DeBarge, Eric Roberson, Rahsaan Patterson, Maysa, The Impressions, Nicole Mitchell, Ballaké Sissoko, Babani Kone, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, and Chilean artist Joe Vasconcellos. She also served as tour manager and percussionist for Les Nubians and others.

She earned a Ph.D. in the Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology program from the University of California- Irvine in June 2022. Her recently released album, The Antidote Suite, has received critical reviews in publications such as Downbeat Magazine, The New York Times, and The Wire. The album was listed as a notable release on NPR's All Things Considered and Bandcamp Daily's album of the day (July 27, 2022). As a sound artist, she has composed sound for art installations, scored films, and created sound designs for gallery spaces and short independent films.