When Sarah Morrow joined the middle school band in sixth grade, she didn’t envision a musical career that would take her around the world securing her place as one of today’s leading jazz trombonist.
Morrow has performed with many great jazz artists including Foley, Dee Dee Bridgewater, David Murray, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Pierre Boussaguet and Anne Ducros. Eventually, she formed her own band and has released two solo albums Greenlight and Standards and Other Stories and one compilation album featuring other American musicians living in Paris Sarah Morrow and the American All Stars in Paris, where she now lives.
Her musical career actually began with a misstep, she says, because she started out on the wrong instrument – clarinet.
“I was awful at it, but my parents wouldn’t let me quit,” she recalls. “I had buck teeth so I had to get braces, and I asked the orthodontist surely I need to play trombone, right? He said the opposite.”
Then, she told her parents the orthodontist recommended playing trombone. “The only reason my parents went for it was because Lisa Lang (her band director) finally told them that I needed to play trombone. I don’t know if she backed up my lie or if it was because she knew how miserable I was.”
Morrow was inspired to try the trombone after seeing the Music Man and hearing the song Seventy Six Trombones. Her first trombone came from her uncle’s music store in Gallipolis, Ohio, when she was 13.
“I took to the instrument very quickly. I loved it and I practiced all the time for fun,” Morrow remembers. She credits Lang and Mike Sewell, the band director at Pickerington High School, for helping her develop while playing in the band.
“They would give me harder music, more challenges and opportunities. I was really fortunate because Mr. Sewell was a phenomenal trombonist. He inspired me a lot and he had a large part to do with where I am now,” she says.
Through Sewell, Morrow began playing with the county band, a statewide band and a youth ensemble at Capital University. The school band performed at Friday night football games and an annual solo and ensemble concert.
“I did a solo maybe twice, but I was petrified of playing solos. I think I was just afraid of failure, but I lost that fear out of necessity. I had to make the decision to no longer be afraid,” she says.
She started discovering her love of jazz when Sewell introduced the music of jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson in class and when she attended a Columbus Jazz Orchestra concert.
Morrow continued her music career at Ohio University playing in a jazz ensemble under band director Ernie Bastin. “He heard me as a freshman and immediately selected me to be the lead player in his top jazz ensemble. He just heard in me that I ‘had it,’ I don’t know how because I didn’t really have that experience,” she tells.
After graduating, Morrow quit playing and took a full-time job at an arts and music center in New Jerseyto follow her ambition to be an arts administrator. But after a few years, she realized that she wanted to pursue a career as a professional artist – as the older jazz musicians told her later, “the bee bop bug bit you.”
It was not long before she hit it big when she was chosen as a substitute with the Dayton PhilharmonicOrchestra when Ray Charles was their guest artist. “Luckily their principal player had enough professionalism to say they weren’t comfortable playing a jazz book with Ray Charles, and wanted to hire someone else and they chose me,” Morrow says.
After the performance, she worked up the courage to approach Charles’ manager to ask for an audition, but was turned down. Not willing accept rejection, she pointed out that she was the lead trombone during the performance, which surprised the manager. That led to an audition and spot on Charles’ next tour leaving for Japan in a few days.
As the first female member of the orchestra, Morrow toured the world with the band from 1995 to 1997 and then launched a string of successful engagements with the leading jazz musicians.
“What is incredible about my career is that I seemed to start at the top. The first tour I ever did was with Ray Charles to Japan. That is kind of crazy – it was just bam!” she says.
Working with top musicians, she developed a humble approach. “I think that is probably one of the reasons why I have worked with so many great artists and continue to do so. I am respectful of them and in return they are very respectful of me and that opens the door immediately. Then they are opened to hearing you,” she says.
“Starting out, people just wouldn’t believe you were good,” she recalls. “What helped me was to have the backing of Mr. Charles in the beginning. I stayed determined and I have been lucky because I have had enough inspiration and support from great musicians and people.”
Recently, she has written the score to a film and is finalizing a new revolutionary album called Elektric Air which will be released at the end of the year. She is also working on a new project with the legendary artist Dr. John (also known as Dr. John Creaux)
which will keep her in the states for about nine months.
Morrow recently returned to Central Ohio to perform at the annual Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival in Gahanna with Bobby Floyd Trio in June. “It is very intimidating to return to your hometown audience because you want more than ever to make them happy and be great. They were a wonderful audience and we had a great time,” she tells.
She has many fond memories of growing up in Pickerington. “I think it is a wonderful place to grow up and I feel very fortunate to have spent the majority of my childhood here,” acknowledges Morrow. Although she admits she is not giving up Paris anytime soon.