"...Most good violinists will never experience what Sara creates with her instrument. It is beautifully refined emotion that lifts the spirit…Jazz violin needs a universal ambassador...a player who can pick up where the last generation left off. Sara Caswell is well on her way to extending that tradition to touch new audiences." –Mark O’Connor

Sara and Rachel Caswell

Since 1999, Minnesota’s big band enthusiasts have had the fortune to hear performances by the JazzMN Orchestra (formerly Big Band). Formed to “promote, preserve and perpetuate jazz, America's indigenous art music, through performance, historical preservation, and education," this non-profit group is an amalgam of the best band artists in the Twin Cities. Under the direction of bandleader/trumpeter Doug Snapp, the 13th season concert series continues on Saturday, March 10th, with special guests the Caswell Sisters. Sara (violin) and Rachel (vocals) join JazzMN at the Hopkins Center for Performing Arts. The sisters’ repertoire ranges from the “ Great American Songbook” to contemporary jazz. Together, they co-lead the Caswell Sisters Quintet while forging their own independent careers.

The Sisters 

Sara received undergraduate degrees in Violin Performance and Jazz Studies at Indiana University where she studied with David Baker, moving on to earn a M.M in Jazz Violin at the Manhattan School of Music in 2006. She also studied classical violin with the legendary Josef Gingold and jazz at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Summer Residency Program and at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Jazz Festival. Recently Sara completed a five-continent tour with Grammy Award-winning bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding’s Chamber Music Society, including two performances in the Twin Cities, at the Dakota and O’Shaugnessy Auditorium; and currently tours with acclaimed vocalist Roseanna Vitro. She has won more than 100 awards in classical and jazz competitions and has performed with the New York Pops Orchestra, Gene Bertoncini, Charlie Byrd, Skitch Henderson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Lynne Arriale, John Clayton, and many of today’s top jazz violinists. Sara leads the Sara Caswell Quartet as well as co-leading the Caswell Sisters Quintet, and has released two acclaimed recordings, First Song (Double-Time Records, 2000) and But Beautiful (Arbors Records, 2005).

Rachel studied cello for many years in addition to voice, earning her undergraduate degree at Indiana University in classical cello as well as jazz. A student of David Baker since age 13, her jazz cello studies are reflected in vocal improvisational style, combining scatting ability with sensitive song interpretation. In 1998 she completed her Master of Music degree in Jazz Voice with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music where she studied with Dominique Eade, Carol Sloane, Danilo Perez, George Garzone and John McNeil. Rachel has performed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, John Blake, Jr., Ingrid Jensen, the Billy Taylor Trio and Curtis Fuller, and was selected as one of two vocalists for the 1997 Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony at Jazz Aspen/Snowmass. Rachel frequently performs in duo with bassist Jeremy Allen, selected to perform at the 2006 International Association for Jazz Education’s Annual Conference in New York. Said David Baker, "There are singers who show evidence of jazz influences and there are singers who choose to sing material from the jazz canon, but Rachel Caswell is that rara avis who is truly a jazz vocalist. Her intonation is impeccable, her diction precise, her jazz sensibilities above reproach, and she swings like mad!” Her debut CD Some Other Time features pianist Lynne Arriale, drummer Steve Davis, bassist Kelly Sill and sister Sara on violin.

The Caswell Sisters appearance with the JazzMN Orchestra has some hometown roots as well. Their parents, Austin and Judy Caswell, grew up in Minneapolis and completed graduate work in Musicology at the University of Minnesota. Austin taught at the General College of the U of M for 10 years and both had church positions as well—Austin as Director of Music at the Wayzata Community Church and Judy as the organist at Trinity Covenant Church in Golden Valley.

The Program and the Band 

Dr. Doug Snapp, founder of JazzMN, Artistic Director and frequent trumpeter, is a Professor of Jazz Studies and Trumpet at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and plays principal trumpet in the Mankato Symphony. Band members this season include: Brian Grivna, Kathy Jensen, Dave Karr, Dale Mendenhall, and Pete Whitman (saxes); Bob Hallgrimson, Dave Jensen, Jeff Gottwig and Steve Strand (trumpets); Wade Clark, Ethan Frier, Dave Graf and Michael Nelson (trombones); Mary Louise Knutson (piano), Terry Burns (bass), Dave Singley (guitar) and Joe Pulice (drums).

Visit www.jazzmn.org for more information or to order tickets. Single concert tickets $25-$29 advance, $17 students, available through online order or at the door. The Hopkins High School Performing Arts Center is located at 2400 Lindbergh Drive, Minnetonka.

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