Sara Caswell

Sara Caswell “is a brilliant world-class violinist...one of the very best of the present generation of emerging young jazz stars” according to David Baker, internationally-renown jazz educator and Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Sara’s debut CD, First Song (Double-Time Records), received rave reviews and has had tracks played on NPR’s Morning Edition. Her latest CD, But Beautiful (Arbors Records, 2005), spent nine weeks (including a 1 ranking) on nationally-syndicated jazz radio host Bob Parlocha’s list of “Top 40 New Releases,” was included in Coda Magazine as a “Top Tens of 2005” CD by reviewer Bill Falconer, and was selected by Dr. Herb Wong as one of the top 30 instrumental jazz albums of 2005 for his “Blue Chip Jazz CD Awards” in Jazz Education Journal. She has also been featured in the “Encore” series of Strings Magazine.Sara’s varied performing experiences include several solo appearances in Carnegie Hall with Skitch Henderson’s New York Pops Orchestra and Jazz Allstars and being featured at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center as part of their Upstarts! concert series. In addition to Skitch Henderson, she has performed with artists such as Charlie Byrd, Gene Bertoncini, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Clayton, Ted Rosenthal, Ingrid Jensen, and John Blake Jr., toured as the youngest member of Four Generations of Jazz Violin with Darol Anger, Johnny Frigo, Joe Kennedy Jr., and Matt Glaser, and performed newly commissioned jazz violin arrangements with symphony orchestras. Sara co-leads the Caswell Sisters Quintet and leads the Sara Caswell Quartet in concerts nationwide, tours with Mark O’Connor as a member of his American String Celebration, and performs with the New York Pops Orchestra.Sara’s formidable teaching experience includes the Mark O’Connor Fiddle Camp and Strings Conference, the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops, the Indiana University String Academy, the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, and a private studio. In addition, she has given numerous jazz string improvisation workshops and masterclasses and been actively involved in IAJE (International Association for Jazz Education) and ASTA (American String Teachers Association).A graduate of Indiana University, which she attended under full scholarship as a Wells Scholar, Sara received B.M. Degrees with High Distinction and an Artist Diploma in both Violin Performance and Jazz Studies. In 2006, Sara completed her M.M. Degree in Jazz Violin at the Manhattan School of Music. Amongst her numerous stellar teachers, Sara studied several years with the legendary Josef Gingold (classical) and David Baker (jazz). She has also worked with many of today’s top jazz artists at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Summer Residency Program in Aspen CO and at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Jazz Festival in Chicago. Sara’s 100+ music honors include several DownBeat Awards, a front-line position in the Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Competition, and numerous jazz scholarships and first-place prizes in the classical competition world. Sara’s extensive training in bebop and hard bop combined with her technical mastery of the violin and her emotional mastery of the repertoire lead international recording artist/violinist Mark O’Connor to write: “Most good violinists will never experience what Sara creates with her instrument. It is beautifully refined emotion that lifts the spirit and at the same time, crystallizes for me this thought: Jazz violin could really have something to offer again. Jazz violin needs a universal ambassador...a player who can pick up where the last generation left off. Sara Caswell is well on her way to extending that tradition to touch new audiences.”