We Could Be Lovers Sarah McKenzie

• 1 I Was Doing Alright 03:20
• 2 That's It, I Quit! 03:34
• 3 We Could Be Lovers 04:17
• 4 Tight 03:04
• 5 At Long Last Love 05:20
• 6 I Won't Dance 03:36
• 7 Love You Madly 03:05
• 8 Quoi, Quoi, Quoi 03:30
• 9 The Music Is The Magic 04:35
• 10 Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) 05:04
• 11 Moon River 04:06
• Total Runtime 43:31

Info for We Could Be Lovers

Sarah McKenzie, pianist-singer-composer and winner of the 2012 ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album, returns with a stunning new recording: We Could Be Lovers.

One of Australia’s most consummate performers, in 2013 Sarah moved from Melbourne to New York to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music and to perform with the established greats of the US jazz scene. The result is We Could Be Lovers, a brilliant new album which signals a new chapter in Sarah’s rise to international fame.

Combining Sarah’s own compositions with her fresh new arrangements of favourite standards by – among others – Cole Porter, Gershwin and Henry Mancini, the album was produced by Grammy-Award-winner Brian Bacchus and recorded with an international line-up of musicians. Sarah will return to her native Australia in November 2014 to launch We Could Be Lovers, including a performance at the prestigious Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival.

We Could Be Lovers boasts some of the finest music to come out of the international jazz scene in recent years. That’s It, I Quit, one of Sarah’s most appealing new compositions, combines catchy rhythms and tight groove in an irresistible combination; in Moon River, recorded here with an intimate accompaniment of just guitar and piano, Sarah’s magical vocals are at their most seductive.

“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 that stuff that makes people want to play jazz” (James Morrison)

Sarah McKenzie, piano, vocals
Jo Caleb, guitar
Pierre Boussaguet, bass
Gregory Hutchinson, drums

Sarah McKenzie
Two and a half years ago, singer/pianist Sarah McKenzie took part in the Umbria Jazz Festival competition: she was awarded a rare full Scholarship to attend the iconic Berklee College of Music.

18 months later she graduated with a Diploma in Jazz Performance and was immediately snapped up by Jean-Philippe Allard, managing director of the impulse! label. Brian Bacchus (Norah Jones, Gregory Porter) produced the album, recorded at the legendary Sear Sound studios in New York. The record features several McKenzie originals, alongside classic tunes from Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Henry Mancini, Duke Ellington and Jerome Kern. For the recording McKenzie assembled an impressive lineup of musicians that include trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, guitarist Hugh Stuckey, bassist Alex Boneham, drummer Marco Valeri; and saxophonists Troy Roberts and Yosvany Terry.

Her impulse! debut ‘We Could Be Lovers’ is now ready for release in Europe on September 18, 2015.

Currently living in Paris Sarah McKenzie originally hails from Melbourne, Australia; she earned a bachelor’s degree in jazz at Perth’s West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and recorded two critically acclaimed albums for the Australian label ABC records – ‘Don’t Tempt Me’ (2010) and ‘Close Your Eyes’ (2012), winner of Best Jazz Album ARIA award. The Australian version of ‘We Could Be Lovers’ has also been awarded with the prestigious Bell Award as Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album 2015.

Sarah McKenzie has performed at jazz's iconic places, the festivals in Monterey, Juan-les-Pins, Marciac and Perugia, Dizzy's and Minton's in New York, as well as the top clubs in Paris, London, Vienna, Munich and Sydney. Together with the Boston Pops Orchestra she premiered one of her compositions at Boston's Symphony Hall.

Booklet for We Could Be Lovers