I realise I’ve neglected this blog page of late. The growing idea of a ‘new normal’ post Covid 2020 left me musically disorientated, taking me a while to navigate myself as a ‘working musician’, whilst also nourishing my creative outlet and trying to stay active. Walking helped. A hell of a lot of walking. Watching the seasons, finding solace in the simple!
Fforest Fawr
Wedding gigs returned first, albeit with unwelcome guidelines.
Bands to perform facing outside so guests can dance
No dancing indoors
Negative covid tests to be presented before events
Wash hands for at least 20 seconds
Etc etc
It was all well and good. Exciting to be playing again, exciting to be a working musician again! But a blend of ‘Proud Mary’ and ‘Mr Brightside’, even after a two year break was quickly becoming stale. As much as I love performing all genres of music (Highway to hell a cheeky favourite), I needed my jazzy outlets and friends too!
Covid became a thing in 2020. In 2023 music once again became a thing. Including some of my most wonderful, fruitful musical and life experiences to date.
Firstly, the Jazz functions flowed in and as well as lovely intimate weddings, I did my first Arena gig and also performed at Stamford Bridge (which also provided the best buffet).
I met one of my musical heroes Karl Jenkins who was in attendance at my Swansea Jazz festival gig. To be complemented by Karl was something I’ll never forget. I thanked him for his music and we discussed lyric writers for bebop tunes. Comforted by his gentle nature, a brave spark ignited within and I asked him whether his fame had rocketed since becoming the meme ‘Megan Markle in disguise’ (response to his distinct moustache and aviators worn at the Queens funeral). Unfortunate really, that a composer of such calibre suddenly becomes instantly recognisable from a TikTok mention. Alas, the world we live in today. This was one of the best days of 2023 and one I won’t forget in a hurry.
Another HUGE honour for me was being able to talk on Dionne Bennett’s Jazzfm show ‘Four Corners’ about Jazz music in Wales, and more specifically, being a woman in Jazz in Wales. I could have chatted to Dionne for hours about experiences as a woman working in a male dominated industry and I'd love to talk about this in more detail in a future blog. I also took great pleasure in Dionne playing one of my tracks ‘Waves’.
My next exciting news is that ‘Waves’ is part of my EP ‘Light’ to be released 22nd March. This is a recording featuring,
Sarah Meek- Vocals
Guy Shotton- Piano
Nick Kacal/Guerrilla Sound- Double Bass/Producer
Alex Goodyear- Drums
I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed bringing this piece to life with my wonderful musician friends. You can pre-save the EP using the following link
If you've managed to reach the end, thank you! I will be posting here more frequently from now on!
Sarah x