Sarah Marie Young is a musician, songwriter, and all around creative thinker. A lover of all styles of music, she was raised on gospel music at Lawrence Baptist Church in Indianapolis. Her father, the church bassist- among other musical groups, and her mother, a soloist and choir member, supported and nurtured Sarah’s passion for music and singing. Sarah attended Indianapolis’ competitive public performing arts middle and high schools, and by the time she was 18, Sarah had privately studied classical voice for 7 years and had begun playing piano. In 2000 she won the Gospel Meets Classical competition of Indiana, which fueled the desire to continue studying music. Sarah attended the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, studying classical voice with Christina Pier and piano as a secondary instrument. She also honed her harmony chops with the all women’s gospel group Sojourner, who performed and taught clinics on the history of African American music across the Midwest and East coast, to John Hopkins University in Washington DC, and Harlem, NY.
Struggling to find her own voice, Sarah found herself restless after 2 years at IU and quit to join the indie rock band, The Nods. They experienced mild success, touring across the east coast and eventually relocating to NYC and disbanding in 2004. It was then that Sarah’s journey to jazz began. Having moved to Chicago in 2004, Sarah was the keyboardist for folk/blues player Dick Prall and shared the stage with greats like Buddy Guy. She attended Columbia College Chicago in 2005, where she received a partial scholarship and fell in love with the rich jazz culture in Chicago, and at Columbia’s music school. Sarah studied jazz voice with Chicago Jazz Ensemble vocalist Bobbi Wilsyn, and jazz piano and theory with CJE pianist Thomas Gunther. During her studies, Sarah shared the stage with John Faddis, Kurt Elling, John Pizzerelli, Christian McBride, Cedar Walton, Pat Martino, The Yellowjackets, Buddy Guy, Bootsy Collins and Earth Wind & Fire, and repeatedly performed at Columbia College’s main events, including Chicago’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2005 and 2006. In 2006 and 2007 she performed for Bill Cosby, Jane Lunden, and again with Buddy Guy.
After graduating in 2008 with a BA in jazz voice, Sarah quit her last non music related job, and has been out and about, hustling in Chicago’s ever changing jazz scene, singing, playing piano, and learning all she can with big ears. She has performed with her group at renowned venues like the Jazz Showcase, Andy’s Jazz Club, the Apollo Theater, The Skokie Theatre, and M Lounge, and continues to become a staple musician on the scene, being a sought after vocalist in numerous projects such as The Tim Fitzgerald Quartet, the political jazz band Chicago Yestet and progressive acid jazz group Quazi Exotix. She has also performed with top notch musicians like Tim Fitzgerald, Tom Vaitsas, George Fludas, Dennis Carroll, Tommy Muellner, Dennis Luxion, Matt Young, Bryan Doherty, Niki Haris, Reggie Thomas, Rodney Whitaker, and Carl Allen.
As a historian of jazz, Sarah knows how learning traditions in music can break through racial and social barriers to the youth in Chicago. She was the instructor for the progressive songwriting and music production program through Gallery 37 at South Shore High School in 2008, where her students performed their own original and self produced songs at The Chicago Theatre, and recently in 2009 and 2010, Sarah performed her own written, directed, and produced Sarah Vaughan tribute show “Sarah Sings Sarah” at the historic Jazz Showcase. In the fall of 2010, Sarah was chosen from hundreds of worldwide applicants to perform as a semifinalist in Washington D.C. for The Thelonious Monk International Jazz Voice competition, one of the most prestigious jazz competitions known internationally. Currently, Sarah also serves as worship leader and choral director for Urban Village Church, Chicago. Just recently in July of 2011, Sarah won 1st and public prize in the world renowned Montreux Jazz Voice competition under judge Quincy Jones, as a part of the historical Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.