For Your Consideration | Sarah Jerrom

"I highly recommend listening to the entire suite non-stop from start to finish. It should be experienced in one beautiful sitting." - David Reed, Belleville Intelligencer

"Touching discourse, seductive music, sometimes grandiose but never grandiloquent, high quality interpretations, this is an album you shouldn’t pass up without immersing yourself in. You’ll come away feeling cleansed, more receptive to the beauty and hope that exist all around us, despite life’s hard knocks. A magnificent lesson in resilience wrapped up in an emotionally authentic creation." - Frédéric Cardin, PanM360

"A delightfully different and powerful album…" Michael Ambrosino – 33third.org

"This is jazz and storytelling at its best!" - ABC Jazz, Australia

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

Sarah Jerrom - “Magpie”

Best Jazz Performance

“Part I: The Road”

Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals

“Part VIII: Crystallization (For R.)”

"The double album really offers a musical experience that doesn't come around that often… The suite really culminates in the final, eighth movement, "Crystalization", in which a fervent, exuberant Third Current crystallizes, which at the end sounds appropriately anthemic. Bravo!" ★★★★★

- Jan Hocek, Jazzport

This work is contemplative, questioning, engaging our intellect. ★★★★ - Thierry de Clemensat – Paris Move

"Every movement distinguishes itself from the others.... Jerrom isn't daunted by long-form movements, as “The Mountain Cries” and “Crystallization” show with respective running-times of thirteen and seventeen minutes. Whereas Jerrom's lyrical side comes to the fore in the former's vocal interplay, the towering latter resolves the work, musical and narratively, on a suitably epic note."

- Ron Schepper - Textura

Featuring:

Christian Overton - conductor

Sarah Jerrom - voice, compositions, narrative

Laura Swankey - voice

Galen Sedlak - voice

Jackson Welchner - voice

Laura Chambers - flute, alto flute, piccolo

Chieh-Ying Lu - oboe

Tara Davidson - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute

Mike Murley - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet

Kirk MacDonald - tenor saxophone, clarinet

Shirantha Beddage - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

James Rhodes - trumpet, flugelhorn (lead)

Kevin Turcotte - trumpet, flugelhorn

Brian O’Kane - trumpet, flugelhorn

Olivia Esther - French horn

William Carn - trombone

Zach Smith - trombone

Emily Ferrell - trombone

Tom Richards - bass trombone

Nancy Walker - piano

Rob McBride - bass

Ernesto Cervini - drums

Produced by Reg Schwager and Sarah Jerrom

Recorded in Toronto at Revolution Recording Apr. 11, 12 and 16th, 2023

Engineers - David Hermiston, John “Beetle” Bailey

Studio Assistant - Madeleine Ertel

Edited and mixed by John “Beetle” Bailey

Mastering by Jeff "Fedge" Elliot

Artwork by Yesim Tosuner

Photography by Lauren Garbutt

Released Apr. 12th, 2024 on TPR Records

“On the strengths of this album—be it in her skillful compositional work or excellent delivery by the orchestra—Sarah Jerrom has surely taken an important step in her career, serving notice as a talent to watch for on the Canadian jazz scene, and hopefully for many years to come.”

- Marc Chénard, La Scena Musicale Magazine

"Profound and powerful, Magpie is an emotional treasure highly recommended... "- Midwest Book Review

“In such songs as Circling Feathers, or The Mountain Cries, and in Jerrom’s ethereally beautiful vocals everywhere – whether evocative of freezing nights or long rainy days – each track takes us into some wild place with trusted and inspiring musical friends.” - Raul da Gama, The Whole Note Magazine

PRESS RELEASE

The Magpie Suite - an evocative and transformative musical journey for expanded jazz orchestra and 4 voices - was born from a moment of awe. During a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in January 2018, composer Sarah Jerrom observed a gathering of magpies and crows performing a dance in the middle of a winter storm. At the time, Jerrom was working on a deeply personal composition defying the stigma and taboo surrounding pregnancy loss. This experience not only captivated her but also set the narrative trajectory for this new piece. The complex world of magpies became a rich metaphor woven throughout the suite’s musical narrative.

The suite, which had its premiere on April 6, 2023 in Toronto, is a masterful blend of storytelling and music, guided by the folkloric nursery rhyme One for Sorrow. It takes the listener on a journey through the eyes of its main character, Woman/Magpie, exploring profound themes such as feminism, infertility, grief, hope, and love. Each of the suite’s eight movements offers a distinct musical experience, seamlessly integrating elements of classical and jazz performance. A quartet of vocalists led by Jerrom adds another dimension to these dynamic and immersive soundscapes. Magpie is a tour de force, an emotional odyssey, a narrative of resilience, transformation, and the magic of storytelling through music.

Magpie was released worldwide on Friday, April 12th 2024 on TPR Records.