It’s time for my second Flash Mob Friday! Gigging musicians and artists have been and will continue to be disproportionately hit by the COVID-19 closings, so each Friday I’m going to point you towards a musician, artist, or organization I think is worth your support. It’s my hope that together we can support artists at a time of great need.
The only rule for participation is that you can’t give disproportionately, either. It’s about the community coming together to support artists, not about any one person being a benefactor.
In this case, you have a few options for supporting the artists for this week.
Säje, a brand-new vocal quartet, hasn’t even recorded their first album yet. They’ve been posting teasers on Instagram for a few months, gave their first performance on the main stage at the Jazz Educators Network conference in January, and scheduled a series of performances this winter and spring. If not for the nationwide cancellations, I and hundreds of other vocal jazz fans would have heard them tonight at the Gold Company Vocal Jazz Festival.
Säje is made up of four wonderful vocal artists: Sara Gazarek, Amanda Taylor, Johnaye Kendrick, and Erin Bentlage. They. are. remarkable. And they currently can’t sing together – or separately; their individual performances are also on hold.
They do not currently have any merchandise available – they haven’t made it into the studio yet, to my knowledge! BUT you can support the individual artists by buying one of their recordings or supporting their Patronage page. If there’s space for a note in checkout, write “Flash Mob to support Säje.”
- I can’t find any way to buy art from Erin right now. Here is her contact form. (She’s making an album, so get on her mailing list and preorder when available!)
I hope that Säje and many other artists consider creating a Patreon to allow us to support their art in an ongoing way. Stay tuned! In the meantime, make today a time to support them or another artist struggling to make music during social distancing.