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Sarah Hanahan
Sarah Hanahan is an up-and-coming jazz saxophonist in New York City. Sarah is a graduate of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the Hartt School of Music where she received her Bachelors degree in 2019, as well as The Juilliard School where she received her Masters degree in 2022. She has had the privilege of studying with well-known performers Abraham Burton, Nat Reeves, Steve Davis, Billy Drummond, and Marc Cary.
Recently, Sarah has worked with many renowned musicians including Jeff “Tain” Watts, Nat Reeves, Peter Martin, Joe Farnsworth, Steve Davis, Billy Hart, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Marc Cary and many others. Sarah tours both nationwide and internationally with her own band, and plays regularly in renowned venues around NYC such as Dizzy’s, Smoke Jazz Club, Smalls, and more. She also recently had the opportunity to play for the 2023 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert at the Kennedy Center honoring Sue Mingus with the Mingus Dynasty Band. Sarah has toured nationwide and around the world with Joe Farnsworth, Peter Martin, Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y, Sherrie Miracle and the Diva Orchestra, and the Grammy award-winning Mingus Big Band.
Sarah was recently featured in the first-ever class of NPR Jazz Night in America’s Youngbloods alongside Samara Joy, Immanuel Wilkins, Isaiah J. Thompson, and Sean Mason. The series features “five up-and-coming jazz geniuses who are revolutionizing their genre” - all of whom are under the age of 30. She is a generational talent on the rise. Her debut album, Among Giants, featuring Marc Cary, Nat Reeves, and Jeff “Tain” Watts is out now on all platforms!
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Lineage, Lift-Off: Sarah Hanahan’s Alto Speaks in the Present Tense
by Steven Roby
Alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan plays with the urgency of a musician who learned the music in real time--absorbing the tradition on the bandstand and transforming it into forward momentum. “I've always been sure of my connection to the instrument," she says. “Anyone who knows me knows my dad is a drummer and a great musician. He really got me hip to the music when I was a young kid... we'd watch his DVDs of Buddy Rich's big band, ...
Continue ReadingZach Adleman: We Make: Stories For A New Day
by Jack Bowers
For someone not that long out of college, New York City-based drummer Zach Adleman has kept a full dance card, leading to the release of his impressive debut recording, We Make: Stories for a New Day, on which Adleman leads a nimble sextet through its paces on 11 charming and upbeat songs, nine of which he composed and arranged. In 2019, the New Jersey native won the Detroit Jazz Festival's annual J.C. Heard National Drum Competition. Two ...
Continue ReadingBruno Montrone Trio: Unaware Beauty
by Nathalie Tamara Freson
Bruno Montrone is definitely a name to keep in sight. Although still fairly young, Montrone has been very active as a side man, accompanying the likes of Enrico Rava, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Rachel Gould among others. Unaware Beauty is his debut album as a leader. And it is an engaging album that beckons more from this talented pianist. Montrone teams up with Giulio Scianatico on double bass (a member of the Italian group Wasted Generation, highly influenced by ...
Continue ReadingZach Adleman: We Make: Stories For A New Day
by David A. Orthmann
From beginning to end, Zach Adleman's debut as a leader, We Make: Stories For A New Day, fires on all cylinders. The twenty-something drummer inhabits the roles of player, composer, arranger, and bandleader with the aplomb of a seasoned veteran. A hungry, assertive band includes two generations of compatible hands who produce a fresh and vital sound that mirrors the straight-ahead, acoustic jazz tradition Adleman penned nine compositions that are sturdy, substantive, and melodically rich. We have ...
Continue ReadingThe Boys Are Back! (On the Same Continent)
by Patrick Burnette
Never mind what your podcast feed may seem to imply--the bastards haven't recorded a podcast together in two months, and this one got completed by the skin of their teeth. In this episode we look at two alto sax players from two very different generations (and degrees of reverence for the “tradition") and a pianist few have heard of and fewer still can understand. Pop matters covers the gamut from Dylan to the Blue Man Group with a few hobbits ...
Continue ReadingUlysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y: A New Beat
by Jack Bowers
The rhythms presented on award-winning drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.'s latest album are not exactly A New Beat, as they have been heard in various configurations for at least eighty years or more, but they do provide a plausible indication of the path that Art Blakey's legendary Jazz Messengers would presumably have followed had Blakey lived into the twenty-first century. Owens, who teaches at the Juilliard School in New York City, has a knack for spotting and encouraging ...
Continue ReadingUlysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y: A New Beat
by Glenn Astarita
A New Beat, crafted by the multi-Grammy award-winning drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. and his Generation Y outfit, materializes as a vivid emblem of jazz's evolving dynamics. This album, an amalgamation of nine tracks, epitomizes the fusion of classic jazz standards with inventive perspectives. Among its highlights, “Bird Lives" notably shines for its technical brilliance and tribute to jazz icons, striking a harmonious balance between honoring the past and embracing the new. This track, alongside the production's repertoire, demonstrates the ensemble's ...
Continue Reading“Saxophonist Sarah Hanahan plays with an intense and driving conviction. Her statements contain memorable themes that remain with the listener well after a song's ending. Her sound is both melodic and muscular.” - Greg Bryant, WBGO
“Sarah’s playing I enjoy very much, and I know people enjoy it because it’s sincere. She has a wonderful collection of musical influences brewing in her pot. It’s inspiring, really, hearing Sarah.” - Abraham Burton, Tenor Saxophonist, on NPR Jazz Night in America
Gary Bartz
saxophone, alto
Betty Carter
vocals
John Coltrane
saxophone
Kenny Garrett
saxophone, alto
Dexter Gordon
saxophone, tenor
Jackie McLean
saxophone, alto
Charlie Parker
saxophone, altoPhotos
Music
Prime Time
From: The Big RoomBy Sarah Hanahan
Videos
Sarah Hanahan
Location: Boston
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
