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Sarah McDonald
Sarah McDonald evokes cool smoky jazz club atmosphere with expressive melifluous phrasing contrasting with rhythmic dexterity. She is a singer who has been as influenced by horn players and drummers as she has by the great vocalists. Having delved deeply into music, she draws from the greats of the history of jazz, blues and soul and selects choice standards, along with original, contemporary and more esoteric repertoire that she infuses with a soulful authenticity.
Having passionately pursued music all of her life, she is a versatile and accomplished vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer with a wide range of experience in many styles which she brings to bear with a creative approach to improvisation. She can deliver a deft and heart rending ballad, a cooking uptempo swing jam or belt out a powerful soul, funk or pop song though is at much at home making beats, collaborating with electronic musicians or playing world music.
Over the years she has performed music for theatre, circus and film, recorded and toured, supported The Cat Empire and other international acts, performed at venues and festivals across Australia, lead numerous original projects and worked as a session musician. She has played jazz for many years with many of Melbourne's finest musicians at various venues, weddings, private functions and corporate events and held long standing residencies. She has recently featured in Bond And Beyond- a project which combines elements of jazz and classical music in innovatively arranged reinterpretations of Bond film music along with with five members of The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, master drummer David Jones and renowned jazz pianist, Hue Blanes. They have performed sell out shows at Deakin Edge, Federation Square in Melbourne and the Melbourne Museum and continue to evolve. She has recently returned from playing in Japan where she, with the kind support of Christian Howes, Sotaro Kitatoko, Eric Weigmann and Kimba and Ryan Griffith, played at Tobu, Donfan, Ghetto Bar, Never Never Land, Intro Jazz Spot, Shinjuku J Jazz Spot, The Fiddlers Club, Unamas, Blarney Stone , Yukata Du Voce and Jazz_Ya.
Sarah is also a committed teacher, workshop facilitator and community artist and has run numerous arts projects, workshop programs and events through her role managing the multicultural performing arts organisation, The Anti Racism Action Band. Through this role she has produced and directed 'Zajal- The Art of Poetic Duel'- a documentary which traces the roots of this form of Middle Eastern duelling poetry through to it's cultural resonance with hiphop battles, cypher, spoken word poetry and poetry slams.
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