Sara Caswell

Career

Born into a musical family in Bloomington, Indiana, Caswell studied classical violin with Josef Gingold, but from an early age she became interested in jazz and learned from Indiana University professor David Baker, violinist John Blake Jr., and trumpeter Patrick Harbison.

After finishing her degrees at Indiana and the Manhattan School of Music, she moved to New York City in the early 2000s at the behest Skitch Henderson, conductor of The New York Pops. She formed a jazz quartet with guitarist Jesse Lewis, bassist Ike Sturm, and drummer Jared Schonig. She also led a group with her sister, vocalist Rachel Caswell. She has taught at the Manhattan School of Music and Berklee College of Music.

In 2010, Caswell began performing with Esperanza Spalding's Chamber Music Society, an ensemble featuring rhythm section and string trio, and was on tour promoting the Chamber Music Society recording when Spalding won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Her work on Roseanna Vitro's album, The Music of Randy Newman, was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2011 in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category. She was named a Rising Star in the Critics' Poll at Down Beat magazine in 2013 and 2014, and she was chosen among the top jazz violinists in the Readers' Poll at JazzTimes magazine in 2011 and 2012.

In 2013, she founded the ensemble 9 Horses with mandolinist Joseph Brent and bassist Shawn Conley. Their debut album, Perfectest Herald, was released on Sunnyside Records in October 2015.

Caswell plays a violin by Stefano Scarampella and a Hardanger d'amore made for her by Salve Håkedal in 2013.

Discography

With 9 Horses

With Skitch Henderson

With Cynthia Sayer

With Roseanna Vitro

With others