Album Notes

About this album:

Through the spring and summer of 2006 - I had the great fortune of performing 5 nights a week in Boston, Massachusetts with the great Ukranian born pianist Maxim Lubarsky. Maxim and I had played before, but it was during this time that we really got to know each other musicially. It got to the point where we could read each other\'s minds and bounce ideas off of one another\'s phrases. Maxim was creating arrangements on the spot of my favorite tunes and some were so fitting that they stayed with us through the months. The majority o the tunes on this album are the direct result of these memorable moments. John Funkhouser (bass) and Omar Aran (drums) joined us on a culminating New Year\'s gig ringing in 2007. It was obvious then who we were going to bring into the studio as our rhythm section. Maxim and I have always been good friends and great fans of the Argentine saxophonist Bernardo Monk. I could hear his voice in my head on some of these tunes and I am so glad and grateful he was available for these sessions.

About the Artist:

Vocalist Sandra Aran is no stranger to music and the stage. She made her musical debut at age 5 in her native Mexico City. Since then, she has made music and performing her life. Studying the art of jazz and scat singing by transcribing the music of Al Jarreau, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Bobby McFerrin, Ms. Aran kept an active performance schedule as an adolescent. In her teens, she formed her first band while studying classical piano and composition at the National University of Mexico. In 1995, she founded her first working jazz quartet \"Art Deco\", with whom she performed extensively in Mexico.

It was during this period that Sandra discovered her knack for lyric writing and vocalese. With this in mind, she joined forces with other jazz singers in Mexico to form the vocal octet, \"Cuicanitl\". In 1996, Cuicanitl opened for blues legend B.B. King as well as for jazz great George Benson during his Mexico City concert in 1997. They released an independent album, \"Solo Voices\" to critical acclaim in 1999.

While studying jazz singing at the Superior School of Music in Mexico City in 1999, Sandra received a scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Boston and later graduated with a degree in vocal performance. She was also granted a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in Mexico to study at Berklee and periodically return to Mexico City to teach voice and improvisation.

That same year, she founded the Sandra Aran Jazz Quartet in Boston performing extensively throughout the Boston area at venues such at Ryles Jazz Club, Club 711, Limbo Jazz Club, Wally\'s, Bob the Chef\'s and the Hatch Shell among others.

Ms. Aran performs within the jazz idiom with a conviction that few musicians can match. Although her smooth sound and explosive stage presence are reminiscent of Sade, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Flora Purim, it is her original approach to jazz standards and her own material that make her truly unique.
Currently, Ms.Aran performs as a solo artist around New England and New York with the soul and smooth jazz band- Diamond Life. She resides in San Francisco California where she also plays regularly along with the Jazz quartet she formed with her brother, drummer Omar Aran.