Biography
Based in New York, alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan also composes and leads her own ensembles. Her sound immediately signals the impact of Jackie McLean, though her wider palette incorporates John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Kenny Garrett. Beyond fronting a quartet, she belongs to Ulysses Owens and Generation Y. Her first full-length recording, Among Giants, appeared in 2024 on Blue Engine, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s imprint, featuring pianist Marc Cary, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, and bassist Nat Reeves.
Massachusetts is where Hanahan was born and raised. Her father, a drummer, provided her earliest lessons and inspiration; she frequently joined him at rehearsals and jobs, absorbing the sounds that drifted from orchestra pits. Countless hours spent with the video Buddy Rich: Live at the 1982 Montreal Jazz Festival proved decisive, especially its saxophone contingent of Steve Marcus and Walt Weiskopf. At seven she informed her father that she wanted to play the instrument herself.
Throughout elementary and high school she participated in every available music class and school band while also performing locally with assorted groups. After graduation she enrolled at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz within the Hartt School of Music, where his example left a deep mark. She recounts looping his albums 4, 5, and 6 in her car, returning again and again to his treatment of “Sentimental Journey.” A bachelor’s degree arrived in 2019; two years later she completed a master’s at The Juilliard School. In 2022 she was named to the inaugural cohort of NPR’s Jazz In America initiative, which spotlighted five jazz musicians under thirty—among them Samara Joy and Immanuel Wilkins.
She has led her own units on stages worldwide and has toured or recorded with the Mingus Dynasty Band, of which she is a member and with which she took part in the 2022 tribute to Sue Mingus, as well as Joe Farnsworth, Sherrie Maricle & the Diva Jazz Orchestra, Christian McBride, Jason Moran, and Billy Childs, among many others. She remains part of Ulysses Owens and Generation Y; on the latter ensemble’s January 2024 debut, A New Beat, she appeared alongside fellow alto saxophonist Erena Terakubo.
September 2024 brought her leader debut on Blue Engine Records. The eight-track album balanced original material with interpretations, among them Burt Bacharach’s “A House Is Not a Home,” offered in homage to McLean’s own striking 1988 reading on Dynasty. Former Hartt instructor Abraham Burton served as producer, and the quartet again included Marc Cary, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and Nat Reeves.
Massachusetts is where Hanahan was born and raised. Her father, a drummer, provided her earliest lessons and inspiration; she frequently joined him at rehearsals and jobs, absorbing the sounds that drifted from orchestra pits. Countless hours spent with the video Buddy Rich: Live at the 1982 Montreal Jazz Festival proved decisive, especially its saxophone contingent of Steve Marcus and Walt Weiskopf. At seven she informed her father that she wanted to play the instrument herself.
Throughout elementary and high school she participated in every available music class and school band while also performing locally with assorted groups. After graduation she enrolled at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz within the Hartt School of Music, where his example left a deep mark. She recounts looping his albums 4, 5, and 6 in her car, returning again and again to his treatment of “Sentimental Journey.” A bachelor’s degree arrived in 2019; two years later she completed a master’s at The Juilliard School. In 2022 she was named to the inaugural cohort of NPR’s Jazz In America initiative, which spotlighted five jazz musicians under thirty—among them Samara Joy and Immanuel Wilkins.
She has led her own units on stages worldwide and has toured or recorded with the Mingus Dynasty Band, of which she is a member and with which she took part in the 2022 tribute to Sue Mingus, as well as Joe Farnsworth, Sherrie Maricle & the Diva Jazz Orchestra, Christian McBride, Jason Moran, and Billy Childs, among many others. She remains part of Ulysses Owens and Generation Y; on the latter ensemble’s January 2024 debut, A New Beat, she appeared alongside fellow alto saxophonist Erena Terakubo.
September 2024 brought her leader debut on Blue Engine Records. The eight-track album balanced original material with interpretations, among them Burt Bacharach’s “A House Is Not a Home,” offered in homage to McLean’s own striking 1988 reading on Dynasty. Former Hartt instructor Abraham Burton served as producer, and the quartet again included Marc Cary, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and Nat Reeves.
Albums
Singles
