Sara Gazarek: "Humanity is at the core of this artform"

John Daversa Podcast

Episode 6: A conversation Sara Gazarek
►Sara Gazarek website: https://saragazarek.com
Born and raised in Seattle, WA, GRAMMY Award® winning jazz vocalist Sara Gazarek reigns as one of the most creative voices of her generation, and one “who may well turn out to be the next important jazz singer” (Los Angeles Times). Collaborating with jazz legends Fred Hersch, Billy Childs, Kurt Elling, and more, and with 6 critically-acclaimed albums under her belt at the age of 40, Gazarek often tours internationally as a soloist/band leader, and as a co-founder of the vocal collective, säje, whose debut album earned a GRAMMY Award® for Best Arrangement Instruments and Vocals. Sara is a 2023 Chamber Music of America New Jazz Works grant recipient, serves on the LA Chapter Board of Governors for the Recording Academy, and works as an Associate Professor of Jazz Voice at the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester) where she is currently designing and leading their new jazz voice program. Sara’s full length nonet project, an expansion of her critically celebrated EP Vanity, is set to release in Fall of 2024.
Humanity is at the core of this artform, I am human, everyone is human. If I’m not embracing the spectrum of humanity, what am I doing with this genre that I’ve dedicated my life to?”
~Sara Gazarek
►Key Moments:
0:00 - Introductions
4:13 – Seattle, in the beginning…
5:48 – given permission to be myself/having respect for the music
7:40 – feeling embarrassed about “things I didn’t know”.
10:30 – “Even if I don’t know, I’m going to keep on going”. No imposter’s syndrome
13:25 – Launch of a career…
18:18 – Merit as currency
19:13 –“You can’t control why people write good or bad reviews” ~John Clayton
25:00 – “Everything I do, I throw 100% of myself into it”.
25:37 – No barriers to creative expression
29:19 – Being ok with what we can’t control
33:00 – säje
37:50 – Values and Intentions in music making
43:10 – Thirsty Ghost
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►Credits
Host and Producer: John Daversa
Video Editing: Max Nierlich
Video and Audio Capture: Dudley Merriam
Graphic Design: Marcus Sasseville
Additional Graphic Design: Izzi Guzman
Recorded in Miami, FL, April, 2023
►Music
"The John Daversa Podcast"
"Moonlight Muse"
"Junk Wagon"
All compositions composed and arranged by John Daversa
Daversafications Publications (ASCAP)
#saragazarek #jazzvocal #sage

Support the show

►Credits
Host and Producer: John Daversa
Video: Max Nierlich
Audio: Dudley Merriam
Marcus Sasseville: Graphic Design
Recorded in Miami, FL
►Music
"The John Daversa Podcast"
"Moonlight Muse"
"Junk Wagon"

All compositions composed and arranged by John Daversa
Daversafications Publications (ASCAP)