For those unaware, Sharon Sable, originally from Atlantic City, found herself immersed in the teen pop world as a young recording artist for LaFace/Arista records in Atlanta at the age of 17.

During this pivotal time, she recorded with and for many of the eras pop/R&B heavyweights such as Pink, Babyface, Mandy Moore and Boyz II Men.

Sharon traveled to Italy and toured the US in support of these other artists, all while finding solace, inspiration and an insatiable appetite for the hidden musical treasures that lay beyond the top 40.

She eventually moved back to South Jersey, began performing with the area’s finest musicians and hasn’t looked back. Sharon continues to be deeply inspired by many of the iconic female vocalists ranging from Eva Cassidy to Bjork and Blossom Dearie to Abbey Lincoln.

Joe Holt has been a full-time performing musician for over 40 years. Also a Board Certified Music Therapist, Joe performs for the connections that music makes, and a shared experience with his audiences.

He is known for his imaginative, whimsical improvisations and a joy in performing, as well as being a sensitive accompanist and collaborator.

Joe’s formal studies span jazz and classical, and the influence of both worlds can be heard. Though rightly considered a jazz pianist in the classic traditions, Joe is best described not with a stylistic label but by his engaging improvisational performances; in and for the moment, creating a space for all in the audience to join him. Jazz fans will appreciate Joe, but so will those for whom jazz may not be so appealing.

And so it is no surprise that both Sharon and Joe have come together - after a chance meeting at a jazz festival, where they would spark the realization of shared sensibilities - on a brand new album, Once Upon a Summertime: the Music of Blossom Dearie releasing April 11th, 2023.

1. Little Jazz Bird
2. You Fascinate Me So
3. Down With Love
4. Once Upon a Summertime
5. L’etang
6. They Say It’s Spring
7. Surrey With the Fringe on Top
8. Inside a Silent Tear
9. Gentleman Friend
10. Boum
11. Tea For Two
12. I Like You, You’re Nice

This simply mesmerizingly quaint, and wholly ambient new album opens on the delicate Little Jazz Bird and the jaunty You Fascinate Me So and then the duo bring us the playful Down With Love, the veritably shimmering, titular Once Upon a Summertime, the simply majestic L’etang, and then we are brought forth the lushly-orchestrated They Say Its Spring.

Along next is the gently sterner fare of Surrey With the Fringe on Top and the light and breezy Inside a Silent Tear, and they are in turn followed by the perky Gentleman Friend, the upright bass-led delights within the French-sung Boum, and then the album rounds out with the gorgeous Tea For Two, closing on the sumptuous I Like You, You’re Nice.

www.sharonsablemusic.com