January 21, 2022
ASYLUMforART
Performers
Michael Sarian
Born on a warm Tuesday morning in Canada, only to be whisked away to Argentina at the age of 1, Michael Sarian is a trumpeter and composer praised for his “unique compositional and instrumental voice… reminiscent of [his] lyrical contemporaries such as Ralph Alessi, Ambrose Akinmusire or Avishai Cohen…certainly deserving of a large audience and much recognition.” Friedrich Kunzmann, All About Jazz
Michael relocated to New York City in 2012 to pursue a master’s degree in Jazz Studies at New York University, where he studied with great musicians such as Laurie Frink, Alan Ferber, Brad Shepik, Ralph Alessi and Mike Rodriguez. Michael has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, BRIC JazzFest, Getxo Blues Festival, Blue Note Jazz Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Beacon Theater, Central Park SummerStage, Teatro Colón, has appeared on WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer, NPR’s World Cafe, and many more.
“Perhaps Sarian’s disposition to innovate — an inherent pivot away from the stringent politics of aesthetic identity in New York jazz — reflects a deeper pivoting in identity, one unique to a composer who, like many endowed with the tensions of a transnational or diasporic identity, cannot fundamentally belong.” Raffi Wartanian, Medium
His fourth album as a bandleader, New Aurora, released September 4 with ears&eyes Records, features a new acoustic quartet with Michael’s horn at the fore-front as the sole melodic voice. His three previous releases are with his septet Michael Sarian & The Chabones (Argentine slang for ‘the dudes’), most recently LEÓN in August of 2018 with ZOHO Music. He also leads a 16-piece big band, Michael Sarian & The Big Chabones.