About Greenleaf Music
Greenleaf Music released its first album in 2005, Mountain Passages, a project I recorded in honor of my father, Damon Greenleaf Douglas. More than anyone, he was the one who set me on the path in music and inspired me to keep going. The name “Greenleaf” traces back several centuries in my family history, and it felt fitting to carry it forward into this endeavor.
Over the past 20 years, the label has grown into an umbrella for all of my creative work – a home for my own projects and a platform to support and promote artists whose music I believe in. Since that first release, we’ve put out over 100 albums, including all of my major recorded works: quintets, big bands, large ensembles, electric groups, chamber music, and experimental projects.
The label has also become a home for a broad community of artists. We’ve released music by Nicole Mitchell, Donny McCaslin, Linda May Han Oh, Rudy Royston, Christian Dillingham, Arun Ramamurthy, the trio of Rodrigo Recabarren / Yago Vázquez / Pablo Menares, Kaisa’s Machine, Itamar Borochov, Mareike Wiening, David Sanford, Manuel Valera, Song Yi Jeon & Vinicius Gomes, Julieta Eugenio, Kazemde George, Ryan Keberle, Emi Makabe, Greg Ward, Michael Bates, Curtis Robert MacDonald, Kneebody, and Sound Prints with Joe Lovano, among others.
Our 2025 Kenny Wheeler Legacy release Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores was nominated for a GRAMMY Award.
In 2026 we welcomed vocalist Aubrey Johnson with her album The Lively Air, and released two albums of mine, Four Freedoms, and Transcend, featuring the Gifts Quintet with Tomeka Reid, Rafiq Bhatia, Ian Chang, and James Brandon Lewis.
In 2025, we celebrated our 20th anniversary – a milestone that honors both the journey so far and the vibrant creative future we’re continuing to build.
Our profit sharing model
From the beginning, Greenleaf Music has offered 50/50 profit sharing deals with all of its artists. That means that after costs are covered, the label and its artists split an equal share of the profits from digital and physical album and sheet music sales, in perpetuity. It’s a simple and nonexclusive agreement that we all share equally in any profits from the recordings. For me, this has been a break from the traditional record label model and a challenge to make fair dealings successful and sustainable. Greenleaf is here to encourage cooperation and help platform new music. I would like artists to see this opportunity as a step towards their next creative goals. I’m proud that we are still here after over twenty years.
The label also has a growing sheet music store and offers a three-tier subscription platform. When you subscribe, you get access to our entire catalog of recordings, including exclusive-to-subscriber content, the most recent being the CD / Digital release Alloy: Extras featuring Alexandra Ridout, David Adewumi, Patricia Brennan, Kate Pass and Rudy Royston. If you aren’t a current subscriber, please join us today and be part of the global community that’s directly benefiting our artists.
Thanks for your continued support!
Our Podcast: A NOISE FROM THE DEEP
Since 2013, Greenleaf has produced a podcast, A Noise From The Deep, which features interviews with some of the era’s most creative and insightful musicians. The podcast is a free recorded series which you can get at our website, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. I produce these podcasts out of the joy of learning about the creative process. There is currently no advertising sponsorship for this project. It’s pure music.
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