April May Webb is an award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator from Newton, Kansas, and the 2024 WINNER of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. She made history as the first Black woman to graduate from The William Paterson University Jazz Education program, where she studied under the mentorship of Mulgrew Miller.

April May co-founded Sounds of April & Randall with her husband, trumpeter Randall Haywood—a boundary-pushing ensemble blending jazz with gospel, R&B, country, and global influences from their international tours. Sounds of April & Randall was appointed as a U.S. Cultural Ambassador through the American Music Abroad Program, a successor to the Jazz Ambassadors initiative that once featured jazz legends like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. 

As part of this role, they toured the South Pacific, sharing jazz on an international stage.

April May has toured with jazz legend T.S. Monk. She was also selected as a Woodshed Network Artist, an exclusive program founded by NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater to support women in jazz. Additionally, she has been inducted into the Newton Fine Arts Hall of Fame.

April May continues to push the boundaries of jazz, blending tradition with innovation while captivating audiences worldwide.

Photo by Julianne Karr