Sarah McKenzie is an Australian jazz pianist, composer, vocalist, and bandleader whose breezy technical style, songwriting acumen, and pronounced lyrical sense of swing have drawn comparisons to Blossom Dearie and Diana Krall.
McKenzie was born in Melbourne, Australia and attended university at the WA Academy of Performing Arts’ (WAAPA), the same institution that gave rise to Hugh Jackman, Marcus Graham, and Lisa McCune. Sarah graduated with a Bachelor of Jazz degree, won the WAYJO Jack Bendat Scholarship, the Hawaiian Award for “Most Outstanding Jazz Graduate:’ She also won a spot as a backing vocalist on Michael Buble’s ‘Call Me Irresponsible’ tour.
In 2011 Sarah signed with ABC Records and cut her first recording entitled ‘Don’t Tempt Me’. It was comprised of classic pop, blues, and jazz tunes as well as originals. The attention it garnered won her an opening slot for Chris Botti’s tour that year.
In 2012, McKenzie released ‘Close Your Eyes’, to universal acclaim and spread her reputation beyond Australia’s shores. It won the ‘Best Jazz Album ‘ARIA’ award’, and earned her support slots on the tours of Enrico Rava and John Patitucci. That same year she won a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston (MA) where she studied with Joanne Brackeen and earned an Artist’s Diploma in Jazz Performance.
In early 2016 Universal Music Publishing in France signed her as composer with an exclusive 5 year contract and she became a member of the French royalty collection system SACEM and relocated to Paris.
In January 2017 Impulse! released McKenzie’s album ‘Paris in the Rain’, which she toured over the next two years around the world performing at hundreds of festivals, e.g. in Montreux, Montreal, Monterrey, Stuttgart, Vienne, Marciac, but also going to places as distant as Japan, Russia, China, Taiwan and Brazil.
Sarah’s recent release ‘Without You’ is a reinvention of the timeless music of Brazilian Jazz with fresh ideas and subtle surprises, adding to its legacy.
“I’ve always loved the music of Brazil, Tom Jobim, Elis Regina, and of course Astrud Gilberto,” says Sarah McKenzie. “What I especially love about Jobim is the simplicity and clarity of his melodies, songs that one can remember and sing.”
