Herbie Hancock, Future at Coachella, Esperanza Spalding, Chief Adjuah, Bringing Flute to the Front of Contemporary Music
Elena Pinderhughes is one of the most compelling voices in contemporary jazz, and she has built her reputation not by staying inside the genre but by moving fearlessly through it. A classically trained flutist who came up performing jazz as a teenager, Elena has developed a singular sound that has earned her a place alongside legends and at some of the biggest stages in music. When she stepped on stage at Coachella with Future and elevated one of hip-hop's most iconic performances with her flute, the music world took notice. Her sound, as Elmo puts it, didn't just complement something already iconic -- it elevated it.
In this 70-minute conversation, Elmo and Elena dig into her journey from growing up in a musical family to collaborating with Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, and Chief Adjuah, and how she has carved out a space for the flute at the center of modern music. They talk about intention, mindset, the discipline behind her artistry, the deep support of her brother and fellow musician Samora Pinderhughes, and what it actually takes to make a niche instrument feel completely essential in every context she enters.
Elena represents a new generation of jazz artists who refuse to be confined by the expectations of any single genre, and this conversation captures exactly what makes her one of the most exciting musicians working today.
"Her sound didn't just complement something already iconic -- she elevated it."
The story behind one of the most talked-about moments of her career: performing with Future at Coachella, how that collaboration came together, and what it felt like to bring the flute to one of the biggest stages in popular music.
Elena on collaborating with Herbie Hancock and what working with one of jazz's greatest living legends taught her about musicianship, listening, and what it means to have a true voice on your instrument.
Her creative relationships with two of the most adventurous artists in contemporary jazz and beyond: what each collaboration revealed about pushing the boundaries of jazz and how different artists expand each other's sense of what's possible.
Elena's philosophy on moving between worlds: how she maintains her jazz identity while connecting deeply with hip-hop, R&B, and pop contexts, and why she believes the flute is uniquely positioned to carry melody across every genre.
The role her family has played in her artistic development, her relationship with her brother Samora Pinderhughes (himself a celebrated musician and composer), and how growing up surrounded by music shaped her sense of purpose and identity.
Elena on the intentional choices she has made at every stage of her career: how she thinks about building a body of work, the discipline behind her artistry, and what she believes separates musicians who break through from those who don't.
Elena walks through the Coachella moment with Future in full: how the collaboration happened, what rehearsals looked like, and what she remembers about standing on that stage and knowing the flute was exactly where it was supposed to be.
Her experience working with Herbie Hancock: the specific things Herbie said and did in their sessions that reshaped how she thinks about improvisation, space, and what it means to truly listen to your collaborators.
On growing up in a musical family and what it was like to have a sibling equally committed to music: her relationship with Samora Pinderhughes, how they push each other, and how shared roots become shared artistic DNA.
Elena's candid thoughts on what it means to be a flutist in spaces that have historically centered other instruments, and how she stopped thinking of that as a barrier and started treating it as the very thing that makes her irreplaceable.
Her creative process with Chief Adjuah: navigating the space between jazz tradition and experimental sound, and what happens when two artists are both committed to honoring the past while refusing to be limited by it.
On intention as a career strategy: Elena's framework for making decisions about who she works with, what projects she takes on, and how she protects the artistic clarity that makes everything she does feel singular and purposeful.