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BIO

“… Jerrom sounds best when she is free of traditional confines.”  – Robert Rusch, Cadence Magazine
 

Sarah Jerrom is a Canadian vocalist, pianist, composer and arranger specializing in jazz and creative music, taking her inspiration from lyric-driven melodies, genre-defying instrumentation and experimental soundscapes. As a bandleader, Sarah has released three critically-acclaimed albums to date: Dream Logic (2021, TPR Records), which showcases a collection of original songs recorded by her contemporary jazz quartet of the same name, The Yeats Project (2017), featuring W.B. Yeats’s poetry set to original music and orchestrated for a nine-piece chamber jazz ensemble, and Illuminations (2007), which encompasses original compositions, jazz-inspired arrangements of contemporary songs and traditional jazz standards. Her new album, “Magpie,” featuring an original ninety-minute suite for large ensemble, is set for release in spring 2024 on TPR Records.
 

“It was the arranging which struck me when I first heard the (Yeats Project’s) music back in 2012; the poems lend themselves to beautiful, lush treatments, and Sarah uses the ensemble’s nine instruments to great effect. The result is contemporary sounding but still tuneful, an interesting mix of chamber music and improvisation; Sarah’s impressive vocals soar over top.” – Josh Grossman – Artistic Director, Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival
 

Headliner performances include Canadian concert venues Brock University’s Centre for the Arts, The Music Gallery, The Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, and many of Toronto’s top jazz clubs. Jazz festival performances include the 2018 and 2015 Niagara Jazz Festival, the 2012 and 2009 Lakefield Jazz Festival and the 2007 Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival. Sarah has performed with renowned jazz artists such as Reg Schwager, Ingrid Jensen, Carnatic-fusion guitarist Prasanna as well as many other notable musicians; she has sung with Alex Samaras’ vocal group, GREX.

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As a composer and arranger, Sarah has received awards such as the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival’s 2013 Special Project Initiative for “The Yeats Project,” and many federal and provincial grants to compose and present new works. Her arrangement of the Irish traditional song, “She Moved Through The Fair,” was selected to be presented at the 2017 International Symposium for Jazz Composers and Arrangers at the University of South Florida. She is the winner of the 2017 Niagara Music Awards’ “World Artist” category.
 

“We really love Sarah’s stunning sophisticated jazz… the style is powerful, stirring yet gentle and very subtle… Sarah’s feel and experience is evident and shows in a very confident way…” – Peter Merrett – Programming Director, PBS 106-7FM Melbourne, Australia

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Sarah has studied composition with renowned Canadian composers Christine Jensen, Christopher Smith, Rick Wilkins (O.C.) and Andrew Downing. She earned her Bachelor of Music in jazz voice at the University of Toronto (2005), where she studied with some of Canada’s most esteemed jazz musicians including Heather Bambrick, Christine Duncan, Terry Promane, and Phil Nimmons, and attended the 2008 Banff Centre for the Arts Jazz and Creative Music program.

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Sarah is a passionate music educator and private instructor, maintaining a private studio of voice, piano, composition and arranging students. She applies the principles of Somatic Voicework™ in her studio and has completed extensive training in teaching all contemporary commercial music styles. Sarah completed review courses at The 2017 LoVetri Institute at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory in Berea, Ohio, USA after completing Jeanie LoVetri’s Somatic Voicework™ certification courses at the 2013 Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University in Virginia, USA. She has taught at Humber College’s jazz program and was on the vocal faculty at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in Chennai, India for the 2010 summer semester.

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