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Devil May Care 4:520:00/4:52
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Nothing Like You 4:350:00/4:35
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For Heaven's Sake 5:280:00/5:28
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Never Say Baby 4:440:00/4:44
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Twilight Blues 3:250:00/3:25
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If I Should Lose You 5:560:00/5:56
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0:00/4:52
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0:00/3:49
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0:00/2:06
Bio:
Born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in the NY metro area, Ms. James came from a family with musical influences from her grandfather, who came from County Cork, Ireland, and played traditional Irish music on accordian and her parents who were big jazz fans with an extensive record collection of Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Huddie Leadbetter, Lightnin' Hopkins and Frank Sinatra recordings.
Piano lessons started at 10, and as a child listening to William B. Williams and his "Make Believe Ballroom" on the radio, and DJ's such as Allison Steele, "The Nightbird," and Jonathan Schwartz, the music of the big bands and the Great American Songbook informed her sensibility.
As a teenager, she went to the famous Woodstock music festival and heard Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, The Band "LIVE " and in their hey day and heard Jim Morrison and The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, George Adams, Don Van Vliet and The Magic Band, Shirley Horn, Carmen Mc Crae, Sonny Rollins, Jaki Bayard and others, all in their prime performance mode at the Fillmore East and West and other venues on the east and west coasts.
After traveling and performing around in the USA in the early 70's singing and playing alto saxophone in bands and doing solo guitar gigs, she moved to the northwest to Eugene, Oregon. Here she met Sonny King and Nancy King and jazz became her primary focus.
She moved back to the East Coast in the late 70's and since then she continues to pursue the jazz muse in many forms. From straight-ahead jazz singing with swinging rhythm sections, to solo piano and vocal gigs, to poetry performances and recording with The American Tribal Ensemble, and an ever-changing aggregation of musical and poetry associates who stretch the boundaries of form and composition, to singing her poetry solo and with some of her favorite musical colleagues.
With influences that are many and varied, there is always some new creative endeavor brewing! At present, Sarah is performing locally in the NYC area, mostly with Trios and Quartets. Along with collaborators John di Martino, Ratzo Harris, Lee Tomboulian, Victor Jones, Tim Horner, Dan Kostelnik, Vince Cherico, Yoshi Waki, and many of the area's best and brightest.
Active on the poetry scene in NY, doing poetry readings, most recently at The Governors Island Poetry Festival yearly in July with The Artemis Poets Collective, and The Diva Dive Series curated by Gitesha Diana Hernandez (HER)
COMING SOON:
Her most recent publication is the release of her E-Book: The Jazz Vocal Success Blueprint. The Jazz Singers Guide To: Hashtags/Branding/YouTube/ and Social Media. They will be available here CHECK BACK LATER FOR MORE DETAILS
In 2022, she moved to Upstate NY in the Hudson Valley to a little hamlet called Napanoch. She resides on 700,000 acres of environmentally protected watershed land, where she is involved in community and environmental activism.
Press Photos All photos by janis wilkins except bottom left Patricia zapata bottom right lona foote
