Sarah Moule
Sarah Moule
Cool London jazz vocalist with a sweet swinging sound.
Biography
Over the past few years singer Sarah Moule has established a rapidly growing reputation as one of Britain’s most exciting new jazz talents. Her highly acclaimed debut album It’s A Nice Thought, released in 2002, showed that in lyricist Fran Landesman and composer Simon Wallace (“one of the finest songwriting partnerships alive” The Observer) she has found a source of contemporary songs which are melodic, thought-provoking, literate and witty, and lend themselves perfectly to Sarah’s classic vocal interpretation.
Her 2nd album Something’s Gotta Give, released in 2004, marries a new collection of Landesman/Wallace material with songs by one of the greatest of the American Songbook lyricists, Johnny Mercer. Simon Wallace's fresh and swinging arrangements highlight the breadth of talent playing on the CD including Jim Mullen, Pete Wareham, Mark Armstrong, Steve Fishwick, Mick Hutton, Gary Hammond, Paul Robinson and Wallace himself.
Both live and on record Sarah's commitment to the lyric never wavers, revealing a subtly earthy and compelling take on Mercer classics and dextrous exuberance on the sharp and witty commentaries on modern life by Landesman and Wallace.
Since emerging on the UK jazz scene Sarah has performed with many of the finest players in British jazz including: Ian Shaw, Iain Ballamy, Tim Whitehead, Tim Garland, Steve Waterman and John Critchinson with whom she toured the Mediterranean with 'A Tribute To Ronnie Scott', performing opposite the legendary bebop duo Jackie & Roy. Throughout the 1990s Sarah was featured vocalist with The John Wilson Orchestra, with whom she recorded the band's debut CD This Is The John Wilson Orchestra.
She performed extensively with them including doing a concert for Her Majesty the Queen at The Royal College of Music. She is also currently featured vocalist with bandleader John Williams’ Rocking In Rhythm septet, specialising in the songs of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, performing with them at St. David’s Hall, Cardiff in 2002 for the Welsh Proms. In the same year she and the band also premiered a suite of newly commissioned pieces by John Mayer, Barbara Thompson, Nikki Iles, Simon Wallace and Dick Walters at Leasowes Bank Arts Festival in Shropshire. Sarah continues to perform in theatres and jazz clubs around the UK, and the summer of 2006 sees her at music festivals including Brighton, Orford, Beckington, Burnham Overy and Corsham.
Sarah grew up in Bexhill-on-Sea on the East Sussex coast where her passion for singing was sparked by singing English folk songs with her large musical family. She spent the 1980s working and travelling in South America, Asia, China, Australia, Europe and the USA. On returning to London in the early 1990s she met jazz singers Ian Shaw and Claire Martin who introduced her to the song-writing team of veteran American lyricist Fran Landesman and Welsh pianist and composer Simon Wallace.
She began to explore the music of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Duke Ellington along with the late-night lifestyle of the London jazz musician while continuing her vocal studies with English National Opera soloist Kenneth Woollam. She soon established a solid reputation for herself on the London jazz scene singing regularly at the 606 Club, The Vortex, Pizza Express Jazz Club and The Pizza On The Park in the company of some of Britain’s foremost jazz musicians.