GRAMMY®-Nominated Vocal Supergroup säje
Shares Playful Live Video for “I Can’t Help It”
Self-Funded, Self-Produced, Self-Released Debut Album Out Now, Debuted In Top 3 on Billboard Jazz Charts
Photo Credit: Lauren Desberg
“säje is blazing a new trail for female composers and performers in the jazz world.” - Forbes
“...[säje is] taking the vocal jazz ensemble into the 21st century.” - KNKX
“...transcendent music.” - DownBeat Magazine
September 15, 2023: GRAMMY®-nominated vocal supergroup säje shares the music video for their cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Can’t Help It”
from their self-titled debut album, released last month. Recorded live,
the high-energy music video finds the women passionately performing the
song in colorful jumpsuits with the backdrop of a studio fit for a
party. Featuring Snarky Puppy’s Bob Reynolds on soprano sax, Dawn
Clement on piano, Anna Butterss on bass and Christian Euman on drums,
the clip earned raves from WRTI
who said, “The intricacies of the arrangement…feel true to the musical
language of Stevie Wonder.” The track comes from the group’s
self-titled, self-funded, self-produced and self-released debut
full-length, which debuted atop multiple Billboard Charts: #2 Top
Contemporary Jazz Albums, #3 Top Jazz Albums, #47 Top Current Album
Sales, #81 Top Album Sales and #21 Emerging Artists Charts. säje is made
up of Los Angeles-based Sara Gazarek and Erin Bentlage and Seattle-situated Johnaye Kendrick and Amanda Taylor.
“I
remember hearing Amanda’s arrangement of this iconic Stevie Wonder song
in the beginning stages of this group,” shares Gazarek. “It taught me
what a total beast she is as a composer and contemporary vocal arranger.
But hearing her solo at this video shoot really showed me what an
incredible vocalist and interpreter she is. The rhythmic and melodic
complexity, variety of textures and fun with which she buoyantly dances
around the song is a marvel!”
The new LP includes “Desert Song,” säje’s first-ever composition that earned a GRAMMY® nomination in 2020, and the single “In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning”
featuring Jacob Collier. The ten tracks are rounded out by other finely
wrought originals, reimagined jazz standards and inventive
interpretations of contemporary tunes by YEBBA, The Bad Plus and The
Beatles. In addition to Collier, Clement and Euman, guests on the album
include vocalist Michael Mayo, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, drummer and NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington, tenor saxophonist Daniel Rotem and bassist Ben Williams.
When
a jazz ensemble earns a GRAMMY Award® nomination with its very first
song and the John Lennon Songwriting Contest Grand Prize for its second
composition, something unusual is in the works. Magic is a word that
comes up often when the women of säje talk about the group’s founding
and evolution, and the story of their first single, "Desert Song," has
attained near legendary status. Early in the group’s journey, the women
took a retreat in Palm Springs where they formed closer bonds and
experienced a creative breakthrough. This energy resurfaced when they
had the opportunity to perform at the Jazz Education Network Conference
in New Orleans, which then led the women to quickly create an entire set
of new material, much of which makes up the debut album.
When
you look at the accomplishments of the women in säje, their individual
virtuosity and singular chemistry starts to make sense. Erin Bentlage has been featured on albums by Jacob Collier (Djesse Vol. 3), Kiefer (When There’s Love Around), Kate McGarry (What To Wear In The Dark) and Amber Navran (their collaboration Golden Light). Amanda Taylor
is a Grammy-nominated arranger known for her work with leading vocal
ensembles, including Groove for Thought, The Manhattan Transfer,
Chanticleer and Kings Return. Johnaye Kendrick has
honed a deep repertoire of originals and inventively arranged
standards, jazz tunes and contemporary pop songs, having released two
albums on her record label johnygirl, 2014’s Here and 2018’s acclaimed Flying. Sara Gazarek is a two-time GRAMMY® nominee for her solo albums, and is widely considered one of her generation’s definitive jazz vocalists.
Track listing:
1. Desert Song
2. (You Are) The Oracle (feat. Michael Mayo)
3. Never You Mind (feat. Ambrose Akinmusire)
4. In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning (feat. Jacob Collier)
5. Britches
6. Wisteria
7. I Can’t Help It
8. As This Moment Slips Away (feat. Terri Lyne Carrington & Daniel Rotem)
9. Evergreen
10. Solid Ground/Blackbird
Tour Dates:
October 13th - Seattle, WA @ Town Hall
October 14th - Portland, OR @ The Old Church
October 16th - Santa Cruz, CA @ Kuumbwa
October 17th - Sacramento, CA @ The Sofia
October 18th - Berkeley, CA @ Freight + Salvage
October 19th - Pleasanton, CA @ Firehouse Arts Ctr
October 22nd - Malibu, CA @ Pepperdine
October 29th - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
November 4th - Groton, MA @ Groton Hill
November 5th - Portland, ME @ One Longfellow Sq
November 7th - Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
November 9th - Red Bank, NJ @ Vogel
November 10th - Vienna, VA @ Barns Wolf Trap
November 11th - Saratoga Springs, NY @ PAC
November 14th - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
November 15th - Annapolis, MD @ Rams Head
November 16th - New York, NY @ Cutting Room
|
Follow säje:
Missing Piece Group
No comments:
Post a Comment