320: Dida Pelled

Dida Pelled’s path into music doesn’t follow a straight line. Growing up in Tel Aviv, she became deeply immersed in jazz as a teenager, obsessing over guitarists like Grant Green and Wes Montgomery. But when she moved to New York nearly two decades ago, her artistic identity began to expand.

In addition to establishing herself as a guitarist on the city’s club scene, Pelled gradually stepped forward as a singer, songwriter, and bandleader, exploring a wider range of sounds and influences, from indie and Americana to straight-ahead jazz.

Her latest release, I Wish You Would, is a focused, blues-driven album recorded live in the studio with a quartet featuring Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, and Sullivan Fortner. Drawn from deep cuts by artists including John Lee Hooker and Mary Lou Williams, the record highlights Pelled’s ability to inhabit traditional material while making it feel immediate and personal.

A second album from the same sessions, featuring more original material, is expected later this year.

Dida is hip, funny, and swinging, a musician who sings with a knowing wink and plays with just the right balance of control and abandon. She knows that the blues hurt so nice, and she knows just how to inflict that beautiful pain. 

Here she reflects on the journey that led her from Israel to New York, and how along the way she found the balance between tradition and individuality, and discovered the truth about her sexuality, her singing, and the six strings she loves so much.