By Filipe Freitas
Name: Sara Serpa
Instrument: vocals
Style: contemporary jazz, avant-garde jazz, modern creative
Album Highlights: All the Dreams (Sunnyside, 2016), Close Up (Clean Feed, 2018), Recognition (Biophilia, 2020)
This pandemic is affecting the musicians in a hard way. What do you envision for the future of jazz music and jazz musicians in particular?
It’s quite hard to predict, since no one knows exactly when will the pandemic end. Musicians are struggling right now, in particular those who are not affiliated with institutions and who depend on touring/ gigs/ teaching to make a living. The pandemic will make more visible the inequities in our field too - I worry about the small clubs that can’t open and won’t be able to pay rent, I worry about live music being the last thing people will consume because we will have a huge economic recession . A career takes so much time to develop, to create connections, networks, understanding how the business works… so, I feel musicians who didn’t have their career established or who are just starting will struggle much more .
The music on Recognition, composed for a silent film related to the Portuguese colonialism in Angola during the 60s, draws strong emotions from concerns like segregation, oppression, violence and racism. How do you see the movements for civil rights, racial justice, and social change that are inundating America and the world today?
Nothing of what is happening right now is new. White supremacy has existed in the US and around the world for a long time, actually with roots in the Portuguese (and other European nations) slave trade. I embarked on this project because I always felt there was a huge silence in Portugal and Europe about colonialism, and how this silence and denial affect the present moment - Black people in Europe are harassed by the police and suffer discrimination all the time, and right now there are Black people dying everyday trying to cross the Mediterranean. Europeans always think that the atrocities happen on the other side of the ocean, but don’t really look at their own societies. I don’t have the ambition of being a savior, however, I feel it’s important that all of us, specially those who are non-Black, to learn more about our own history, with a critical approach, and recognize the atrocities done, so we can together process the loss and hopeful create a more just and equitable society. I am hopeful about protest and global mobilization, but there’s a lot of work to be done in our corner of the world.
I felt that the choices for the ensemble that backs you up in this record were very appropriate. Why this instrumentation? Did you compose with any of these members in mind or were they picked after the music has been composed?
Initially, I invited Mark Turner and Zeena Parkins and wrote the music specifically for them. We performed this piece as trio a few times. I have always loved Mark and Zeena’s playing - they come from different backgrounds but are that kind of artists that have a distinct sonic personality: you hear one note and recognize them immediately. It was a new challenge for me in many ways to write for this combination of instruments, to write music meant to accompany a silent film, to write music that did not interfere with the message conveyed by the film. The music was written along with the film, scene by scene, but things evolved with performances. David Virelles replaced Zeena in one performance once, and then it made sense for me to add the piano - its sound and presence provided a solid foundation for the music to grow. I love these musicians very much and I always hope I can be as good as they are.
As a singer, composer, and bandleader living in the Big Apple, what are the main difficulties and rewards of being part of the New York jazz scene?
I love New York because I interact with so many different people, artists and thinkers. It is a place unique in the world, where things happen really fast. And it is a place where I have opportunities to collaborate artistically in all kinds of settings. I am grateful for all I have been able to do in New York. Difficulties: it is an expensive city, and it’s hard to pause once you enter the work vortex. During the pandemic it was really challenging to be confined in an apartment, hearing ambulances the whole day for a month, and noticing my neighborhood struggling.
Two persons who have influenced you the most in your career?
My parents for their integrity, values and sacrifices. They always supported me, and without them I would not be who I am.
Two persons whom you’ve never collaborated with but you’d like to?
I would love to collaborate with Matana Roberts and Sophia Jenberg.
Three records that changed your perspective of jazz?
Ran Blake and Jeanne Lee - The Newest Sound Around;
Abbey Lincoln - Abbey Is Blue;
Maria João e Mário Laginha - Chorinho Feliz.
What other musical styles do you listen to?
Whatever is good music!
What would you have been if you weren’t a musician?
I never thought I would be a professional musician… If I had continued what I studied for, I would be a Social Worker. Literally, studying at the Hot Clube Jazz School changed my life, in the year I was graduating from college.
Projects for the near future?
I hope I can record the next section of what I see as a trilogy, initiated with Recognition. This is a collaboration with Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma, entitled Intimate Strangers, that features Emmanuel, Sofia Rei, Aubrey Johnson, Matt Mitchell and Qasim Naqvi.