A professional vocalist since her teens, Amber Rachelle started out busking on the streets of Seattle at 17 and worked her way up to leading bands around the city. At 19 she toured down the West Coast to New Orleans and fell in love with the Crescent City; in 2019 she moved here to learn everything she could about its music, history, and culture.
In late 2021 she founded Amber Rachelle & The Sweet Potatoes, a high-energy six-piece jazz band. The band started with swing and has expanded into jump blues, early R&B, and New Orleans funk. The lineup features Caleb Nelson on trumpet, Connor Bigelow on saxophone, Tyler Hotti on guitar, Steve Walch on bass, and Ronan Cowan on drums — all, as The Syncopated Times noted, still in their 20s.
Their debut album Too Sweet came in 2023, followed by Pipin' Hot! The band has played the New Orleans Jazz Museum, the Spotted Cat, Three Keys, d.b.a., and the Maison, debuted at French Quarter Fest 2024, joined the 2025 Jazz & Heritage Festival lineup, and headlines the Jazz Playhouse in the French Quarter.
Jazz, not for old people. Jazz, for everybody.
Amber Rachelle, quoted in The Syncopated Times
