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Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

RADIO November 3, 2019

Sara Gazarek, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Hancock and More

This week we kick off with the modern day jazz singer who is making waves Sara Gazarek. From there, we dig some new sound from NYC cat Mike Casey as we delve into the modern jazz sounds, we profile the veteran Ray Obiedo and look into new music from the great Kevin Sun. We also explore the old world of jazz with Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra and Stan Getz. We then wrap everything up with some new ...

ALBUM REVIEW September 4, 2019

Sara Gazarek: Thirsty Ghost

By Jerome Wilson

Sara Gazarek has been working as a professional jazz singer since 2004. You can find plenty of vintage YouTube clips of her singing Great American Songbook material in a breezy, polished manner. A few years ago, things began to happen in her life. There was near-death tragedy in her family, her marriage fell apart and she began to wonder about her professional future. On this, her sixth album, her reactions to all this have resulted in a broadening and deepening ...

ALBUM REVIEW July 28, 2016

Sara Gazarek and Josh Nelson: Dream In The Blue

By Dan Bilawsky

The success of a story often hinges on the art of the telling. Listen to vocalist Sara Gazarek with pianist Josh Nelson and you immediately see that to be true. These two use ripples of inflection to elicit tidal waves of emotion, uncover new wrinkles in the oldest of thematic fabrics, paint scenes and/or inhabit characters so deeply and convincingly that they blur or erase the lines separating true self from role, and willingly reveal all that this world has ...

LIVE REVIEW February 16, 2015

Sara Gazarek at Birdland

By Dan Bilawsky

Sara Gazarek Birdland New York, NY February 13, 2015 New York audiences have had some opportunities to catch California-based vocalist Sara Gazarek in action, but they've been few and far between: A one-nighter at Jazz at Kitano, a Mother's Day brunch at the Blue Note, and more of the like spring to mind. And so it was with excitement and anticipation that Gazarek arrived in New York for her first extended engagement--five nights, finishing ...

LIVE REVIEW April 23, 2014

Sara Gazarek and Josh Nelson at Jazz at Kitano

By Dan Bilawsky

Sara Gazarek and Josh Nelson Jazz at Kitano New York, NY April 19, 2014 Some relationships are beyond close, bordering on the sacred. There's the strong bond between husband and wife, the high level of trust between friend and confidant, and, perhaps most interestingly, the intimate connection between singer and pianist. That last pairing may seem out of place and trivial in nature to some, but anybody who's ever encountered such a combination knows ...

ALBUM REVIEW June 27, 2012

Sara Gazarek: Blossom & Bee

By Dan Bilawsky

Vocalist Sara Gazarek was in a recording slumber for the past half decade, but 2012 seems to be the year that this sleeping jazz vocal beauty finally awakens. She eased her way back into the ears of her fans with Where Time Stands Still (Charleston Square Recordings, 2012), a collaboration that paired her with Germany's Triosence, and returns full force now, with the sublime Blossom & Bee. This twelve-song program is strongly influenced by the work of vocalist Blossom Dearie ...

ALBUM REVIEW June 14, 2012

Sara Gazarek: Blossom & Bee

By C. Michael Bailey

All chicken or feathers, feast or famine, flood or drought; regarding jazz vocal releases, there is always a healthy steady stream of new music being produced. The vast majority is good while, as it should be, the truly exceptional are of a rarer variety. The release of Kate McGarry's exceptional Girl Talk (Palmetto, 2012) might have been just a singular event of excellence, except that Sara Gazarek decided to join McGarry at Palmetto records, releasing the equally fine Blossum & ...