Introducing Sarah McKenzie
Exclusive to The Honest Agent
At 24 years of age, Sarah McKenzie the pianist, vocalist and composer is a graduate of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts where Hugh Jackman, Marcus Graham, Lisa McCune and many other leading Australian musical and theatre performers also trained.
While in Perth she completed a Bachelor of Jazz (Composition) degree, won the Jack Bendat Scholarship, the Hawaiian Award for ‘Most Outstanding Jazz Graduate’ and the Perth Jazz Societies Award for leading the ‘Most Outstanding Group of the Year for 2008’. She also sung backing vocals along side Michael Buble for the Multi-Platinum-Artists ‘Call Me Irresponsible’ Tour.
Now based back in Melbourne, her rise through the ranks of the Australian music scene has been spectacular, aided by frequent appearances at venues like Bennett’s Lane, The Paris Cat, and at major festivals. Her musical pedigree is impeccable, having been mentored by legends like Graeme Lyall, Jamie Oehlers, and especially James Morrison, whose Scholarship she won after six consecutive years of involvement in Morrison’s Generations in Jazz talent development programme, where she performed alongside him at major concert venues including The Basement in Sydney, The Stonnington Jazz Festival and The Stones of the Yarra Valley.
2011 see’s the Release of Sarah’s Debut Album. Don’t Tempt Me contains extraordinary takes on classic pop, blues and jazz tunes, from the barnstorming first single You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To, through a smouldering rendition of the classic Summertime and onto a unique bossanova take on Elvis’ Love Me Tender which sounds as if it’s come straight from the soundtrack of an uber cool bar scene from TV show Hawaii Five-0.
Stand-outs too are three originals by Sarah, including the Latin-style title track Don’t Tempt Me (featuring James Morrison), a rollicking gospel inspired I’ve Got The Blues Tonight and the blues heartbreaker Love Me or Leave Me, amazingly written when Sarah was just 16 years of age.
Produced by Chong Lim, the album entitled Don’t Tempt Me marks a crucial milestone in the rapidly-developing career of the Melbourne-raised, Perth-educated McKenzie, whom critics around the country have identified as a once-in-a-generation talent.
The album has been nominated for The ARIA – Fine Arts Awards / 2011 Best Jazz Album.
|
World on a string West coast blues I got the blues tonight Lets fall in love Misty Autumn leaves Take the A train Georgia on my mind Out of nowhere Blue Bossa Round midnight Straight no chaser My funny valentine There is no greater love There will never be another you Stella by starlight Sonny moon for two Wouldn’t it be lovely Exactly like you That’s all Love for sale I'm just a lucky so and so The girl from Ipanema |
Moondance Let there be love I've got you under my skin Come fly with me Route 66 The way you look tonight Save your love for me Willow weep for me Angel eyes Please be kind Dindi Don’t temp me Summertime Gee baby ain't I good to you Cheek to cheek I thought about you Cry me a river Love me or leave me Child is born Down home blues Fly me to the Moon LOVE....etc |
Sarah McKenzie is a musical marvel. She sings with the kind of phrasing that only a true jazz player can come up with, while her groove on the piano is the stuff that makes people want to play jazz! Don't miss a chance to hear this lady perform live."
James Morrison
"Sarah McKenzie, the remarkable jazz pianist- vocalist-composer-arranger, is a gem"
THE AGE
Close your eyes and listen to McKenzie and it could be a much older woman singing, there is such power, depth and maturity in the voice. There is also warmth and conviction — when McKenzie sings “You’d be so nice to come home to”, she sings as if she has someone in mind. You know it’s not you, but you wish, in that moment, that it could be.
Roger Mitchell - journalist with the Sunday Herald Sun and Herald Sun in Melbourne
REVIEW Craig Mathieson - The Age
ENOUGH is going right for Sarah McKenzie that she can laugh about the setbacks. Notable among them, according to the jazz vocalist and pianist, was a performance at a Melbourne restaurant several years ago, where one drunken and aggressive patron took umbrage at her band's existence and flung a tomato at her head.
"We stopped right then, because this wasn't The Blues Brothers," laughs McKenzie, who is calling from Perth after a two-week engagement on a luxury cruise along the coastline of the Kimberley, in Western Australia's north (pros: small, appreciative audience, incredible sights; con: $600 in excess baggage charges to get her piano there).
The 23-year-old Carlton North resident is enjoying the benefits of a growing public profile. Recently she played at the launch of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, where she drew public praise from Victoria's Premier and Minister for the Arts, Ted Baillieu, (which she missed, having stepped outside after her short set), while last month saw the release of her debut album, Don't Tempt Me, through ABC Music.
But if others are taking note, McKenzie herself is not about to succumb to complacency. "I have very strong ideas about what I want to do and I won't wait in case they pass me by," she explains. "I'm of the opinion that you need the drive and you need to work very hard to get to the top. I really want to play Paris with a symphony orchestra, for example, because that would be divine, and to get that I have to work really hard."
Part of McKenzie's purposeful dedication stems from the amount of time she has already dedicated to music. She began playing the piano at five, and at nine acquired a taste for the blues and then jazz through a teacher. She was writing songs and performing publicly by the age of 16, when she first entered trumpeter James Morrison's annual Generations in Jazz scholarship contest. Winning would eventually be a case of sixth time lucky.
"I really didn't deserve it until the final year," insists McKenzie. "I started at a very young age and for the first couple of years I was never really sure of myself. By the end, I had studied and I had confidence and I knew where I wanted to go if I won the scholarship, and all that shone through."
Fortified by three years of demanding study at Perth's Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, McKenzie has emerged as a band leader, whether fronting her quartet or septet, while learning the lessons academia does not cover ("Don't go out with people in your band it's catastrophic"). The eclectic Don't Tempt Me, which combines interpretations of standards and three original pieces, suggests a musician at ease with jazz's mainstream aspirations.
"I wanted to show a lot of sides to me because I don't want to stay in one box just yet. I want to explore music and see what works and what doesn't," McKenzie says. "I'm glad there's a lot of variety because I don't want to pigeonhole myself."
But she is also wary of trading away her beliefs for status, with crossover success not of interest to McKenzie if it involves marketing pre-empting the music.
"I want to bring class to music and keep it there, because ultimately that's what people want," she stresses.
"They want to see someone natural, not put on, who genuinely loves music and is talented and wasn't put there because they had a pretty face. That's what I aim for and that's what I work hard for."
To find out more about this artist, or to book them for your event, please complete the form below.
