The Checkout–Live at Berklee Returns with Sarah McKenzie

On Thursday, September 27, at 8:00 p.m., Impulse! Records artist and Berklee alumna Sarah McKenzie B.M. ‘15 will perform live with her quartet from the Red Room at Cafe 939 on WBGO’s The Checkout—Live at Berklee. Vocalist and pianist McKenzie returns to her alma mater on the heels of her second disc for Impulse!, Paris in the Rain, for one of just two U.S. dates prior to her next European tour. Joining McKenzie for this special Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival preshow will be guitarist Perry Smith, bassist Dezron Douglas, and drummer Donald Edwards.

After enchanting jazz fans with her 2015 Impulse! Records debut, We Could Be Lovers, McKenzie followed up with the sensational disc Paris in the Rain. As before, the 28-year-old, Melbourne, Australia-born singer, pianist, composer, and arranger teamed with the acclaimed Brian Bacchus—who has produced classics for such stars as Norah Jones, Lizz Wright, and Gregory Porter—to deliver a gorgeous program of jazz classics and originals that present McKenzie’s incredible musicality in glamorous glory.

After graduating from Berklee, McKenzie moved to Paris. The album’s snazzy title track is her love letter to the City of Light. The fanciful lyrics find her alternating effortlessly between French and English as she rejoices in the city’s opulent offerings. “I’m really in love with Paris. It’s a really amazing city,” said McKenzie. “It’s so beautiful with so much to offer in terms of culture, food, and style. I wanted to write a song that captures all of Paris’ beauty, magic, and spirit.”

Get tickets to The Checkout—Live at Berklee featuring Sarah McKenzie.

New York-area radio station WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM and Berklee present the eighth year of The Checkout—Live at Berklee. The series brings critically acclaimed, New York-based Berklee alumni back to their alma mater for concerts in the Red Room at Cafe 939. Previous performers on The Checkout—Live at Berklee have included Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Ingrid Jensen, Joe Lovano, Guillermo Klein, Chihiro Yamanaka, Melissa Aldana, Walter Smith, Matthew Stevens, and Victor Prieto.

Each edition of The Checkout—Live at Berklee is webcast live in high-definition video, and archived for later viewing, at checkoutjazz.org. Shows are broadcast in the New York metro area on WBGO-FM, and heard worldwide on wbgo.org, as a special edition of The Checkout, the multimedia show featuring what’s new on New York’s jazz scene.