Sarah Gazarek is graced with an “impeccable” voice (Winnipeg Free Press) and hailed as an artist that “may well turn out to be the next important jazz singer” by the LA Times. While her career has been the picture of success – highlighted by five acclaimed albums, an ardent fanbase, enthusiastic reviews, and collaborations with such luminaries as Kurt Elling, Fred Hersch, Billy Childs, and Larry Goldings, it is with her latest album, Thirsty Ghost, that Gazarek finally brings her musical expression stunningly into phase with her emotional maturity.

 

 

Prompted by an intense period of personal and professional upheaval, the “exquisite taste, bright wit and creative vitality” hailed by WNPR remain, but those qualities are potently shaded by a rich undercurrent of complex feeling and whole-hearted realities.

 

 

Pianist Julian Shore is known for his "deep maturity as a composer and bandleader" (DownBeat) and has been called “a pianist/composer who beyond the obvious elegance of his playing, has a clear sense of the bigger artistic picture” (Peter Hum, Ottowa Citizen). His work as both a versatile sideman and experienced bandleader has JazzTimes calling him one of the “leaders of the young jazz piano scene.”As an educator, his teaching credits include piano instruction at the New School University, as well as celebrated jazz education programs like the Litchfield Jazz Camp and Samba Meets Jazz and masterclasses and lectures around the globe.

His most recent record "Which Way Now" was released in early 2016 and features Gilad Hekselman, Dayna Stephens, Aidan Carroll, Colin Stranahan and a slew of guests and configurations.

 

 

 

Bassist and composer Matt Aronoff have been praised for his “musicianship at the highest level, paired with an incredibly emotional connection with the crowd” (Jazz Advocate). He has been deeply involved in the New York music scene since 2008 when he graduated from Manhattan School of Music and began touring with Grammy-winning singer Luciana Souza.

 

Well known for being, “greatly sensitive, with huge ears and a feel for accompaniment” (All About Jazz), Matt has been consistently touring and recording with many of the world’s jazz greats, musicians, bandleaders and entertainers such as Peter Eldridge, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, The New York Voices and many others. He is also currently a Teaching Artist through Carnegie Hall’s Weill Institute. Through this program, he has had the opportunity to play and compose music with people in neglected communities such as hospitals, prisons, detention centers, and homeless shelters.

 

 

Drummer Zach Harmon was born into a musical family in Wisconsin. He began studying classical piano at age three and continued for thirteen years. He started playing the drum set at age fourteen and quickly gravitated towards improvised music. In 2003, Zach became a member of the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars with whom he toured Japan and performed at the 2003 Monterey Jazz Festival. Harmon’s creativity and expressive musicality have been nurtured through studies of a wide variety of percussion instruments including batá, bongó, bodhrán, congas, piano, shekere, tabla, timbales, timpani, all orchestral percussion instruments, and more.

 

Zach studied tabla with maestro Abhiman Kaushal and in 2007, he recorded tabla on Terence Blanchard’s “A Tale of God’s Will” for Blue Note Records. The album, which reflects on the events of Hurricane Katrina, won a Grammy Award for best large ensemble. With decades of musical experience, Zach has been fortunate to record or tour nationally and internationally with the likes of Ambrose Akinmusire, Anoushka Shankar, Austin Peralta a host of others.