Album Notes

As a kid, Sarah learned that the only common thread between her many homes was music. (Her family moved every two or three years but always were surrounded by community rich in musical resources.) She began her career in professional performance at age thirteen as a singing telegram and, by age fifteen, was professionally cantoring for churches. Her early voice was honed under the instruction of opera stars Carol Wilcox-Jones, Judith Gray, and Mary Burgess, but she eventually dropped that scene and ran away to study at Berklee College of Music.

There, her jazz repertoire and compositional chops increased dramatically, and Gromko sang her way through school in professional a cappella groups and doing television jingles. She graduated with a film scoring degree, immediately moved to New York City, and developed her career as a sound and music editor for television and film. She also was able to hone her musical ideas with her commissioned arrangements and orchestrations, but singing ever again was the farthest from her mind.

Then she met a pianist who encouraged her to dust off the old larynx in order to resume arranging standards and perform with a combo. She formed GromKo. and was received well enough to consider breaking out the original tunes she had hidden under a bushel since her salad years. This newfound courage, combined with a life-changing spiritual decision, spawned "Convert Augustine."

Over her multi-focused career, Sarah has worked and played with such names as Wycliff Gordon, Marcus Printup, Eric Reed, Bob Stoloff, Maggie Stone, James Oliverio, and Wynton Marsalis.