Violinist and composer/arranger, Melissa Cox specialises in writing and recording strings in numerous genres.

Melissa studied jazz violin in Sydney, Australia and film music composition in Paris, France. She has composed scores for several short films, including the series “Paris Diaries” directed by Romilly Walton-Masters, to whose memory she later wrote the 20-minute instrumental...
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Violinist and composer/arranger, Melissa Cox specialises in writing and recording strings in numerous genres.

Melissa studied jazz violin in Sydney, Australia and film music composition in Paris, France. She has composed scores for several short films, including the series “Paris Diaries” directed by Romilly Walton-Masters, to whose memory she later wrote the 20-minute instrumental work “Romilly Reflections”, composed for string quintet, clarinet and piano. In 2007, under the name Black Sesame, she released brink, a “stunning” (JJJ) and “highly innovative” (3CH FM) album of jazz-electro songs, in which the “powerful influence” of her string arrangements caught attention (mX). Her deft touch for string arrangements also unites a series of acoustic songs featuring various vocalists that she has released recently under the name dot cox.

2020 saw her release an instrumental album under the name Pinball, in collaboration with guitarist Alex Stuart. The project pits Cox’s violin against Stuart’s guitar in a post-rock journey that draws on group improvisation, as well as featuring compositions by both Stuart and Cox that encompass “an impressive breadth of styles and moods” (allaboutjazz.com).

As a violinist (and occasional violist), she performs regularly alongside Elliott Murphy, Inga Liljeström, Chris Kenna (as Kenna & Cox) and The Downtown Merrylegs. Additionally, she has recorded with Melanie Horsnell, John Ulysses Mitchell, Manu Castillo, Delaney Blue, Barton Hartshorn, Täyu and others, specializing in writing and recording string arrangements from her farmhouse studio in the French countryside.
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