Lesley Mok (b. 1994) is a New York City-based percussionist and interdisciplinary artist who works in sound, installation, film, and theater. Interested in the ways social conditions shape our beings, Lesley’s work focuses on overacting humanness to explore ideas about alienness and privilege. Their work draws from queer and feminist art practices, Chinese philosophy, Afro-Cuban musical traditions, futurist perspectives, and ancestral knowledge.

Their ongoing explorations with composition and improvisation are most notably documented in their debut album The Living Collection (out May 2023 on American Dreams Records) that features a ten-piece improvising chamber ensemble. The album, described as “an exquisite and stimulating work” by All About Jazz and “a singularly personal statement” by Jazz Trail Magazine, was named International Debut Album of the Year at the 2024 Deutscher Jazz Preis.

Other recent works include stilled leaf-chatter (2022), bird in its chest (2022), pooling light (2021), but I forced to mind my vision of a sky (2020), and she smashed the enclosure (2020).

Lesley is a recipient of the 2022 Resident Artist at Roulette Intermedium, 2021 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, Hermitage Fellow, 2021 Van Lier Artist at the Asian American Arts Alliance, and a member of the inaugural cohort of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians. Their work has been commissioned and performed by International Contemporary Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, and JACK Quartet.

In addition to their own practice, Lesley is a part of collaborative ensembles tombstar (Isabel Crespo Pardo, edi kwon, Zekkereya El-magharbel) and vehicle / passenger (Marc Alberto & Florian Herzog). They can also be heard in Myra Melford’s Fire and Water, David Leon: Bird’s Eye, and Anna Webber’s Shimmer Wince.

As a percussionist, Lesley has performed alongside Tomeka Reid, William Parker, Ingrid Laubrock, Mary Malvorson, Kenny Barron, John Patitucci, Cory Smythe, Jen Shyu, Kalia Vandever, Fay Victor, Adam O’Farrill, and others. They have performed throughout the Americas and Europe, including Roulette Intermedium, SF Jazz, Ringling Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Art, Unerhört Festival, Jazzowa Jesien, Cologne Jazz Festival, moers festival, Panama Jazz Festival, and Dominican Republic Jazz Festival.

Photo by Tarishi Gupta