| Jazz |
After years of leading the famous Jitterbug Vipers and building a reputation in the Austin jazz scene, Sarah Sharp comes to us with a record that is intimate, warm and emotionally experienced rather than eager to impress. After nine years of a prestigious residency at the Elephant Room, she recorded this album in the studio of local guitar legend Eric Johnson, who offered the space after being mesmerised by one of her performances. That sense of earned intimacy seeps into every corner of the record.
The 11-track album crosses several genres, from jazz to folk to Americana, offering a wide palette with which Sarah offers an emotional journey of such intensity that it will not leave anyone indifferent. The arrangements are airy, light, intimate and wildly sensual, never enriched or weighed down, always leaving room for the most convincing instrument: Sarah’s voice.
Most of the tracks on the album are familiar, at least in their origin, because they are very well known. And it was undoubtedly a huge risk to tackle so many cult songs on a first album. But Sarah transforms them so profoundly that they almost become originals, with all their poetic essence, their narrative power.
Projects like this don’t usually attract much attention or even cause some rejection. Tackling well-known and cult titles like “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” is risky, very risky, and most artists who do it end up often seeming like they’re committing sacrilege rather than paying homage because these songs seem so sacred, almost untouchable, like something to be protected rather than reinvented.
Titles like “For No One” (Lennon & McCartney), or cult titles like “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (Bob Dylan), “Moon River” (Henri Mancini), “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” (Osvaldo Farrés) or even “The Boy From Ipanema” (Antonio Carlos Jobim) are transcended by the arrangements and Sarah’s caressing voice.
The first listen of this album seduces you, immediately. The second disturbs you a little more, makes you shiver, and the third listening touches your soul because Sarah’s voice touches your heart, like Cupid’s arrow.
The key to the quality of this first album is that it is not rushed. It is built patiently, detail by detail, arrangement by arrangement. Everything supports Sarah’s voice, and the musicians are neither sidelined nor erased. The instrumental accompaniments, delicate and finely crafted, offer moments of quiet exaltation.
Sarah is backed by a group of excellent musicians: Mitch Watkins on guitar, Masumi Jones on drums, John Fremgen on bass, Sean Giddings on piano and Oliver Stack on piano, cornet and accordion are up to the challenge represented by this first opus, and they ensure with perfect mastery their playing and the intimate sound level required by the arrangements of the 11 tracks.
On all tracks, elegance and true sensitivity replace the familiar vocal flourishes. Restraint and gentleness become expressive. There is no artifice here. Sarah offers herself as she is and this honesty sets her apart.
There is a lightness in the interpretation, a sense of singing which never falls into excess. A voice that interprets without ever betraying, revealing new musical lines while honouring the original spirit of the titles. I suspect that Bob Dylan himself must appreciate all the emotion that Sarah has wrapped in his song, and the way that her vocal lines ultimately serve this song rather than distorting it and making it just a “cover.”
Sarah is one of those rare singers whose current obsession is not to write her own songs at all costs, but who gives herself completely to the deepest and most elusive of interpretations.
In a musical landscape often focused on vocal power and over-the-top demonstration, Sarah’s artistry takes us in the opposite direction. This album requires attention, trust and complicity. And in return, Sarah offers you something increasingly rare: a voice that asks not only to be heard but felt.
Frankie Pfeiffer
Editor in chief – PARIS-MOVE
PARIS-MOVE, May 8th, 2026
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Tracklisting:
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
- The Boy From Ipanema
- It’s Been A Long, Long Time
- The Nearness of You
- Sweet Lotus Blossom
- For No One
- I’m Beginning To See The Light
- I Think It’s Going To Rain
- Losing My Mind
- Quizás, Quizás, Quizás
- Moon River
Musicians:
Sarah Sharp: Vocals
Mitch Watkins: Guitar
Masumi Jones: Drums
John Fremgen: Bass
Oliver Stack: Piano, Cornet, Accordion
Sean Giddings: Piano
Recorded & Mixed by Kelly Donnelly in Austin, TX