Smith Club of San Francisco
and Marin
Alumnae Profiles
Sarah Manning '98
Summer 2005
Profile By Sarah Cross Mills '66
If you were a castaway on a desert island, what's one "luxury item" you'd choose to have with you? Probably not a small, fire-breathing, winged dragon. But that's just what Sarah Manning chose when she was featured recently on KCSM's Desert Island Jazz. The dragon (she had her reasons) would join her one book (Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen) and eight pieces of music to keep her company. She might just as easily have selected the imaginary Elflion (think about it) the name of her independent recording company. The creative, off-beat, unique and surprising mix well in both Sarah and her praiseworthy alto sax compositions and playing.
The first national press review of her debut album, House on Eddy Street, released in 2004, appeared in JazzTimes and reports that Sarah can "…create intriguing, well-crafted instrumental compositions…. Sounding like no one but herself, she possesses a well-focused, slightly edgy tone that suits equally her firmly swinging, uptempo postbop excursions and her highly melodic slow-tempo explorations." The reviewer also quotes Nat Hentoff's album liner notes, where he writes, "Sarah Manning can swing as naturally as she breathes…." Yes, Nat Hentoff, renowned author, Village Voice columnist, and jazz critic wrote her first album's liner notes. With no connection to ease introducing herself, Sarah mailed him the CD, and only days later he was on her answering machine saying he'd be delighted to lend his words to the package. She says this is the biggest thing that could have happened to her musically.
Sarah's compositions and style are all about developing her unique musical identity. She's been consumed by the saxophone since she was a young teen when she began obsessively practicing holding long notes, driving her twin sister from their bedroom. Her self-described perfectionism abetted her determination to be the best at this young age, and having a unique passion saved her from the typical challenges of high school. Her father, a musician and songwriter himself, drove her to frequent lessons and jam sessions with other young talent in nearby Hartford, CT. With no chance to pursue extensive music studies in school, she decided to spend her senior year at Interlochen Arts Academy in MI, where exploring her own voice, developing a mature, personal sound on the instrument through immersing herself in composing and playing, proved to be the doorway to her future success.
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Somewhat to her surprise, she was accepted into the Jazz Studies Program at William Paterson University in NJ, where she found herself to be the only female horn player and one of seven women out of 70 musicians in the entire Program. The faculty included world-class NY-area professionals, and the Program emphasized small-group playing. But against these positives arose the ongoing bias in jazz against female players. Distressed at not being included in the guys' jam sessions, so important for jazz musicians, and finding the academic courses weak, Sarah began planning a different path. She realized she'd need strength to face the sexism, and she knew she'd become a better musician if she had a well-rounded academic program as a solid base. "To be an artist, you need to be inquisitive in many areas," she says. She also recognized that the program was leading her into a more conventional jazz style, while, as she says, "I'm definitely of the mind to move things forward."
After reading Gloria Steinem's Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, Sarah became interested in Smith and in feminism. To her, William Paterson might as well have been an all-male institution; she much preferred the idea of an all-female college. Transferring to Smith as a junior, she majored in Women's Studies, because she felt it would help her to have something to say in her music. She knows her two years at Smith were critical to where she is in her music career now. Of no small importance was being able to practice on the third floor with a beautiful view after years of basement practice rooms. "How can a musician bring the world into her music if she can only see concrete walls?" Sarah wonders. She acquired the courage to face future rejections and prejudices by being able to express her opinions freely in class. And she took a Five Colleges class with Yusef Lateef, Grammy-winning composer, performer, author, educator and philosopher, a major force in music for at least six decades. Sarah studied with Lateef in post-graduate studies at UMass. (And, of course, she chose one of his pieces for her desert island stay.)
Traveling alone by Greyhound in 1999, Sarah took an 18-day trip from New York to San Francisco and back. For eleven days, she played at the Powell and Market cable-car turnaround, making enough money to cover all her trip expenses and developing the edginess that comes from being bumped and bruised by tourists and businesspeople, a quality naturally incorporated into her music. She and her now-husband, also a composer, moved to the Bay Area a couple of years later.
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A large part of her attraction to San Francisco, aside from its thriving creative music scene, is her fascination with Vertigo, one of many films set in the city. (A piece from the film score is another one of her desert island picks.) House on Eddy Street, her first album and the title of one of her pieces, is a reference to where the main character lived in a former life. Another tune, "Powell Street Yowl", is a tribute to her street busking days. Sarah and her husband financed this independent release of original music with savings, borrowings and wedding gifts. The very accomplished older musicians in her quartet - all males - have never shown any of the prejudice that critic Nat Hentoff has often written about. Obviously, they are impressed by her presence, her performance and her pieces, and they genuinely enjoy playing her music. In addition to her Desert Island visit, KCSM Jazz 91 has also interviewed her and includes her album on its regular playlist.
Next fall, Sarah will be recording a second album live at Yoshi's. In early June, she launches a new website, www.sarahmanningmusic.com , powered by ArtistShare, an online innovative development in the music industry, a business model for artists which recognizes that, in the digital age, only the creative process itself cannot be pirated. Using advanced technologies, ArtistShare supports the development of a strong base of fans who can directly participate in artists' current projects, getting a behind-the-scenes view into the musical process. For example, Sarah plans to post audio clips of new music in performance, interviews, and essays on such topics as improvisation and Women in Jazz. She'll offer downloads of charts (musical scores) as she writes them. Fans will support her work through a targeted program of calling radio stations and networking with other jazz lovers to promote her music. All this will help her private fundraising for the second album.
Sarah and her quartet can be heard frequently in the Bay Area. Her website will list all dates and venues, and if you're an aficionado or new to jazz, don't miss her before the New York scene lures her back. She's dreamed of playing the Village Vanguard since she first picked up the sax, and with her determination, not to mention her talent, she just might realize this dream before she leaves her 20's.
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