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2009 Jazz Masters Concert

When: Saturday, February 7, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm (doors open at 7)
Place: ISU Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall, Normal, IL
Cost: $22 in advance ($25 at the door)

GLT Jazz Host Laura Kennedy recommended Sara Gazarek as the 2009 GLT Jazz Master. Though young in both age and years working as a jazz singer, Gazarek has impressed the rest of the GLT staff as one of the elite performers in jazz today. When you see her live, we're sure you will agree.

Please join us in thanking Dunbar, Breitweiser& Company, LLP for their generous sponsorship of the GLT Jazz Masters concerts.

Laura Kennedy had the chance to talk with Sara recently.

Laura Kennedy: You grew up in Seattle. What sort of impact did the city have on your musical growth?

Sara Gazarek: For some reason – I think it’s something in the water – Seattle has an amazing high school jazz program. The educators are all involved in the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and are incredibly passionate about it. They’re geared towards giving kids a lot of different opportunities to perform and see other artists perform, plus have educational experiences outside the classroom. I went to Roosevelt High School to focus on theatre, but was kind of taken under the wing of the jazz instructor, Scott Brown. He’s just so passionate about jazz and passing on the “gospel”. When we would learn a song, we wouldn’t just get up on stage in our sequined outfits and perform it; we would learn the history of the song, who wrote it, we would learn different solos to the songs and people would write different words to those solos. He really afforded us the opportunity to understand a piece of music. In looking back I think it’s pretty neat that I knew who Bird was!

LK: It’s great that we have people like Scott Brown to reach students like you because you really weren’t into jazz before high school.

SG: I had a pretty warped view of what jazz was, like most kids my age. When I finally found out the beauty and the improvisational nature and the freedom in jazz, I was just really excited and inspired. When we do clinics in schools now, I think a lot of kids are just shocked at how cool jazz is. [Sara will present an afternoon Masterclass on February 7th. Class is free and open to all.]

LK: You won Best Collegiate Vocalist in the Downbeat Student Music Awards in 2003 and then right out of the chute, right out of college you’ve done exceedingly well. Has all this success coming to you at an early age made you at all nervous?

SG: A couple of important people in my life growing up made it seem like a bad thing to have success at an early age. So, I was initially scared when I was approached by major labels. A dear friend of mine, John Clayton, who is an amazing writer, arranger, big band leader and bassist, was the first person who shook me and said, “You have absolutely nothing to be scared of or ashamed of. Everybody has their own path and as long as you’re doing your homework to keep learning and keep growing, and keep bringing your music to the highest level that it can be, you really have nothing to be ashamed of.”

LK: You make some interesting choices of songs to perform. One favorite here at GLT is your rendition of Blackbird/Bye-Bye Blackbird. How do you choose your material?

SG: For me a song has to have a sentimental value or I have to be really inspired and moved by the lyrics. With Blackbird my band and I thought it would be kind of tongue-in-cheek to put both songs together. We put a lot of heart and soul into that arrangement.

LK: An interesting thing about your music is that it’s constantly evolving. You don’t just arrange a tune and then say “Okay, that’s it – it’s perfect” and never change another note.

SG: We’ve been doing many of the songs for three years now. If we do them three or four times a week, it’s going to get stale really fast. I’ve always told my band that we have the freedom to change up the arrangement on stage so long as the musical choices we’re making are better than the ones decided upon previously. When audiences come to the show, it’s always something fresh.

LK: So give us a preview of what you’re going to do at the GLT Jazz Masters concert.

SG: I think it’ll be 80 % jazz standards arranged in a fresh way, probably 10 % American contemporary standards, and 10 % original compositions. Our sets are very jazz standard heavy, but we’re all under 30 and can’t deny that we have other influences. It’s going to be very musical and exciting and we hope to see everybody there.