When Maria Kim spoke with Korea Global News in a digital interview on August 4, she was in the middle of an active international schedule, moving between performances, collaborations and new recording projects.
The Korean jazz pianist and vocalist is preparing for another chapter in her career with Something’s Gotta Give, a new album scheduled for release on October 23 through La Reserve Records.
For Kim, however, the current period is not simply about releasing more music. It reflects a broader change in the way she thinks about jazz, collaboration and the relationships that form through music.
Kim began studying music at the age of three, even before she could speak Korean fluently. She said that, in a sense, music became her first language.
When she began studying jazz, the genre was not widely known in Korea. Without a clear path in front of her, she spent years listening closely to musicians she admired, learning by ear and trying to understand how they shaped phrases, rhythm and expression.
That process continued to influence the way she developed as a musician.
One particularly memorable experience came when she recorded at The Church Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with musicians she had long admired.
Kim described the experience as overwhelming and unforgettable — a moment that represented not only the recording itself, but how far her musical journey had taken her.
Her forthcoming album, Something’s Gotta Give, continues that journey. The album is scheduled for release on October 23, while “Estate,” its first single, has already been released.
The nine-track album also includes standards such as “The Very Thought of You,” “It Never Entered My Mind” and “Blue Moon.”
At the time of the interview, Kim was in New York, where she said the city continued to create unexpected opportunities for musical collaboration.
During her stay, she recorded several tracks with Canadian vocalist Caity Gyorgy, bassist Ben Wolstein and drummer Aaron Seeber.
That project, she said, is planned for release in January.
The collaboration reflects the way Kim increasingly sees jazz — not simply as a genre, but as a shared language between musicians from different backgrounds.
“Jazz is a universal language,” she said.
For Kim, musical communication can move beyond nationality, language and cultural differences. Rather than emphasizing that she is Korean, a woman, a singer or a pianist, she said she hopes her music can remind listeners of the emotions people share.
Her perspective on music has also changed over time.
When she was younger, Kim said she often viewed music as a competition. She believed that becoming more technically accomplished would lead to more opportunities and greater recognition.
Today, she sees music differently.
For Kim, music has become more of a life journey — a way of sharing experiences and emotions with musicians, audiences and listeners.
She believes that the human relationships behind music ultimately give it meaning.
That idea has also influenced the atmosphere she hopes to create on stage. Rather than asking audiences to analyze every musical detail, Kim wants listeners to feel the relationship and trust among the musicians performing together.
She has compared the experience to food: people do not need to understand every ingredient or technique in order to enjoy what they are experiencing.
Jazz has also expanded Kim’s own world.
Through performances and recording sessions, she has met musicians from different countries and cultural backgrounds. Some encounters have led to brief collaborations, others have developed into longer musical relationships.
In November, Kim will join fellow La Reserve artists Caity Gyorgy and Lucy Yeghiazaryan for an Asia tour that includes performances in Japan and Korea.
The tour will bring together three vocalists with different musical and cultural backgrounds while continuing Kim’s growing network of international collaborations.
Kim also hopes to create more opportunities for Korean audiences to encounter musicians she has met through her work abroad.
For her, those exchanges are less about formally “introducing” one music scene to another and more about sharing the relationships that naturally develop through performance.
As Something’s Gotta Give approaches its October release, Kim is continuing to balance touring, recording and new collaborations.
The projects may differ in style and setting, but they are connected by an idea that has become increasingly important to her: music is ultimately created by people, and its meaning comes from the connections those people build.
For Maria Kim, jazz is no longer a race toward technical perfection.
It is a language — and a way of bringing people together.