Vanity serves as a “hello” from the road this artist has been travelling since the release of Thirsty Ghost; a journey of growth, exploration and lessons. Vanity gives us a Sara Gazarek with fear taken off the table, and replaced by truth, compassion, and an acknowledgement of the artist she has become over the last three years. An artist that definitely does not value beauty over expression, or value safety and consistency over communication and freedom. “I pushed myself to explore deeper and more sustainable tools in my instrument through weekly private voice lessons with master musician/vocalist and Somatic Voice Work instructor, Theo Bleckmann. I had the time and space to explore these investigations, musically and vocally, and this has fundamentally and forever changed my perspective and approach as a jazz musician and a singer,” said Gazarek.
On Vanity we have another first from Gazarek with her premiere original composition, “We Have Not Long To Love,” set to a poem by Tennessee Williams, with horns orchestrated by Alan Ferber. The song is, “meant to amplify the importance of taking every moment for the miracle that is,” said Gazarek. On her leap into composing, she added, “while reevaluating my artistic value systems I had to challenge the notion that risk-taking and ‘the pursuit of the truth over the perfect’ wasn’t in alignment with the old narrative that I didn’t have the skills to write a song. So I pushed myself to compose, thinking about colors and shapes, emotional textures and storytelling, much in the way that I do when I write a lyric. I wanted to capture the yin and yang of every day love and life, and the movement, modulations, and meditative repetition that can become more of an undercurrent than a miracle if we let it. And, while what resulted is by no means perfect, it is the truth – for me.”
Sara Gazarek has never been an artist preoccupied with genre; she just loves good songs that ring true to her. Through her catalog, and in performance, we can hear her exploring songs that were written anywhere from last year, to the early part of the twentieth century, and everything in between. The collection of songs on Vanity follow suit, with material from a wildly diverse group of artists, including Sarah Vaughan, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Fiona Apple. The fairly obscure title track (arranged by Alan Ferber), originally covered by the great Sarah Vaughan, is a statement of what people likely view Gazarek’s persona to be, based on her past, vs the person and artist she has now become. Gazarek explains, “I’ve wanted to put a song to the shift that I’ve experienced over the last ten years, the space I’ve finally stepped into, and the need to document that in a way that showcases the unexpected and the unconventional.” Fiona Apple’s “Extraordinary Machine,” arranged by Geoff Keezer, with horn orchestrations by Alan Ferber, is utilized by Gazarek as a statement on women’s rights and how, “in the jazz community, fighting for equality has been an important journey for me and for my students,” states Gazarek. “Something Good” (from The Sound of Music), arranged by Stu Mindeman, is a deeply personal love letter to Gazarek’s mother. The artist explains, this song is, “typically associated with romantic love and dancing in a gazebo, but years ago, Julie Andrews agreed that she and my mother look alike, and I’ve wanted to sing a love song to my mother since her almost catastrophic car accident a few years ago (and I penned an extra verse just for her!).”
Gazarek assembled an amazing group of artists to bring Vanity to life, including arrangers Geoff Keezer, Stu Mindeman and Alan Ferber, along with pianist Miro Sprague (Karrin Allyson, Dominique Eade), first call West Coast bassist Alex Boneham (Billy Childs, Eric Reed), drummer Christian Euman (Jacob Collier, Kurt Elling), guitarist Brad Alen Williams (Nate Smith, Brittany Howard), and the horn section of trumpeter Michael Stever (Steve Miller, Brian Culbertson), the aforementioned trombonist/arranger/orchestrator Alan Ferber (Paul Simon, Cynthia Erivo), alto saxophonist Lenard Simpson (Billy Childs, Kurt Elling), tenor saxophonist Daniel Rotem (Herbie Hancock, Jeff Parker), and baritone saxophonist Adam Schroeder (Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra). “They all have such command over their craft, and having Alan orchestrate for a larger ensemble brought things to another level. The experiences I wanted to capture are on a wider spectrum than Thirsty Ghost, so it only made sense to encapsulate that with a broader instrumentation. The band is comprised of deeply beloved, long-time friends and master musicians; but at the end of the day, I am grateful to have had their contributions in movement and air, and gifting me the space and opportunity to fly free, in return,” said Gazarek.
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