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Artist: Sarah McKenzie
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Sarah McKenzie:

Without You

Jazz pianist, composer and singer, Sarah McKenzie is releasing her sixth album, ‘Without You’. A Brazilian jazz project that conveys her love for Brazilian music and culture, ‘Without You’ includes a generous amount of Antonio Carlos Jobim songs along with four of McKenzie’s originals and a few other selections, all played tastefully, and in her own inventive way.

“I’ve always loved the music of Brazil, Tom Jobim, Elis Regina, and of course Astrud Gilberto,” says Sarah McKenzie. “What I especially love about Jobim is the simplicity and clarity of his melodies, songs that one can remember and sing.”

“I went to Rio de Janeiro in 2017 and played at the official opening of the Blue Note jazz club and also a famous Brazilian television show called ‘Encontro com Fátima Bernardes’. At night I jammed with local musicians, who were most generous and tremendously talented. I had a fantastic time being in Brazil. I always wanted to record Brazilian music but not a typical ‘jazz singer does a Brazil tribute’ album.”

At that concert, opening Rio’s Blue Note jazz club, Sarah performed with the brilliant Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, who had previously played on her ‘Paris in the Rain’ album and has for years accompanied Astrud Gilberto on her tours. And she met the legendary Jacques Morelenbaum, the original cellist with Antonio Carlos Jobim. The genesis of ‘Without You’ began right there and then! Astonishingly those two Brazilian legends had never before performed nor recorded together.

Sarah McKenzie:

You, Me & the Christmas Tree

The magic of Christmas! Joy is in the air, everybody's in good cheer and you can hear carols everywhere. The outside is covered in snow, but it is warm by the fireside. Romance is at your heart, while you sit with your loved-ones under the Christmas tree. These are images that Sarah McKenzie creates in this original composition called ‘You, Me & the Christmas Tree'. It captures the spirit of Christmas. It's a song about love and being together. Sarah admits that only when she moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music did she grasp the full meaning of those legendary jazzy Christmas songs. In her home country of Australia she has never experienced a ‘White Christmas', so "a lot of those iconic songs only really started to make sense to me once I experienced winter on the East-coast of the United States with tons of snow and cold temperatures, but also saw the lit-up Christmas trees and Christmas markets, the smell of mulled wine and ‘chestnuts roasted on an open fire'. I instantly fell in love with that season of the year and always wanted to put my feelings in a song." 

Sarah chose to record ‘You, Me & the Christmas Tree' with an A-lister cast of Jazz' finest: John Clayton on double bass, Jeff Hamilton on drums, Warren Wolf on vibes and Randy Napoleon on guitar. And they went to legendary Capitol Studios in Los Angeles for this recording, the studio in which a lot of famous Christmas albums have been recorded (Frank Sinatra's ‘A Jolly Christmas', ‘Christmas Carousel' by Peggy Lee, Diana Krall's ‘Christmas Songs'), but also the building on which the famous Christmas tree is lit up every year since 1958. According to Los Angeles Magazine that Christmas tree was the first of its kind, designed by Ollsen Lighting and it featured 4,373 bulbs at 25 watts each.

Sarah McKenzie:

Waiting Here for You

I was very lucky that during lockdown the Diablo Regional Arts Association in Walnut Creek, CA commissioned me to create a 60-minute video extravaganza with the theme MUSIC CONNECTS OUR WORLD. My idea was to create ten cross-genre video clips that would include musicians from all corners of the world and put the videos together with announcements so they become like a concert. The stylistic reach was from Bossa Nova to Tango, from Bebop to Choral Music. And there was this one song in my drawer that sounded a bit like pop music, but I did not really know what to do with it. My Australian producer Chong Lim, who I happened to speak to during that time, just had his tour as keyboarder for David Foster cancelled and he recommended that I speak to the drummer of that tour, John JR Robinson. John was all up for it and recorded the drums for the track and recommended that I speak to Michael Thompson for guitars. Michael then added the guitars and recommended that I ask Jon Gilutin to add Hammond B3. It was amazing! All these legends, who had worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion suddenly recorded a song of mine and I was playing and singing alongside them. I very much hope that you'll like it! Here is WAITING HERE FOR YOU.

Sarah McKenzie:

Schneller

When the corona virus hit in early March Sarah McKenzie was just on tour in France and all her shows got cancelled. At the same time the US government implemented a travel ban for everyone who was travelling from the Schengen territory so Sarah was unable to return to her home in Los Angeles immediately. ?In order not to get stuck during lockdown in a big city I rented an old school house in the very South of England, in Hastings at the English Channel coast. It was a very romantic place from the 17th century with vines on the outside and a large garden with roses and lots of other flowers and old, very stylish furniture on the inside and an old piano that I would play every day. We had planned to stay for two weeks, in the end it was 3 1/2 months. I found a small but well equipped recording studio in Hastings, that had an engineer who had recorded a lot of jazz, and a Yamaha baby grand piano. Perfect conditions to start working 24/7. The song SCHNELLER! was inspired by drives on the German highway. It is called Autobahn and it is one of the very few places in the world where there is no speed limit. For someone not used to this it is quite a frightening experience to travel at 130 mph. So once I had picked my finger nails out of the dashboard I thought this experience needs a song. I then had to find the right musicians for it. With Geoff Gascoyne (bass) and Donald Edwards (drums) I have a long lasting working relationship already, but who could play those trumpets? I was very lucky to then come across Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra's Kenny Rampton, who is a fantastic trumpet player and who put in the extra miles that it needed to make this song special. I hope you'll like it.'

Sarah McKenzie:

Secrets of My Heart

After the great success of Sarah McKenzie's 2017 disc, Paris in the Rain(Impulse! Records), the 31-year-old pianist, singer, and composer returns with the poignant, Secrets of My Heart, reuniting with noted Australian composer, arranger, and events music director, Chong Lim, who produced her first two discs – Don't Tempt Me and Close Your Eyes. Recorded in New York City, Secrets of My Heart exudes cosmopolitan flair with its lineup that includes French bassist Pierre Boussaguet and Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Bocattoalongside guitarist Dan Wilson, drummer Donald Edwards, vibraphonist Warren Wolf,tenor saxophonist Troy Roberts, and cellist Jody Redhage Ferber(all of whom based in the United States).

 

 

Sarah McKenzie:

Paris In The Rain

After enchanting jazz fans with her 2015 Impulse! Records debut, We Could Be Lovers, Sarah McKenzie returns with the sensational follow-up, Paris in the Rain. Like before, the 28-year-old, Melbourne, Australia-born singer, pianist, composer and arranger teams with the acclaimed Brian Bacchus – who has produced classics for such stars as Norah Jones, Lizz Wright, and Gregory Porter – to deliver a gripping program of jazz classics and originals – all of which present McKenzie's incredible musicality in glamorous glory.