Return to You was created by the same talented team that put together Yours (including Grammy-award nominated bass master John Clayton as producer, and her equally youthful, all-star LA based band, Josh Nelson (p), Erik Kertes (b), and Matt Slocum (d)). Return to You features well-planned arrangements of more contemporary standards by songwriters Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Harry Connick Jr., and Gillian Welch. Some of the best material, however, comes from Gazarek’s acclaimed pianist, Josh Nelson, as he displays his considerable gifts as a composer and lyricist with four new songs.
In choosing the material for Return to You, Gazarek explains, “our live performances are very different from the record. We do a lot more up-tempo and swinging material. But we felt secure in the base we’d created with Yours and wanted to explore some of our other influences. We wanted this album to have a flow, and a sense of purpose, and we feel the listener will be able to pick up on the part of our souls we gave to this album.” Among the album’s stand out tracks are a playful version of Mitchell’s “Carey,” and a haunting rendition of Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” with an obscure final chorus that has rarely been recorded. Gazarek’s knack for spotting first-rate material shines brightest on “Northern Lights,” a ravishing song written by the brilliant tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake – a collaboration so poignant and engaging that no one should be surprised if the tune ends up spearheading a Norah Jones-like breakthrough.
“Return to You” also introduces a number of new textures and sounds, not explored before on the bands prior release. Strings, guitar, horns, and duet vocals are, as Gazarek puts it “a way to get a message across that we couldn’t express as a quartet.” And while the singer could have had her pick of all-star instrumentalists to feature on her sophomore album, Gazarek, who possesses an easy-going charisma that quietly commands attention, refuses to hog the limelight. “In this band we prefer to keep it in the family, and featured some of our most talented friends,” Gazarek says, humbly, always referring to “we” rather than “I” when speaking of her music, highlighting the indispensability of her band mates. “We truly are a family now, and they are an integral part of the way our sound has progressed.” The quartet works together in shaping arrangements, and each piece is the result of extended collaboration. She notes the importance of this collaboration, “we are constantly learning from one another.”
Born and raised in Seattle, Gazarek grew up without much exposure to jazz. She denotes any and all preliminary jazz education to her high school big band and choir director, Scott Brown. “He afforded us a lot of educational opportunities at festivals and competitions,” Gazarek remembers. As a senior in high school, she was awarded the first ever Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation Outstanding Jazz Vocalist Award at the Essentially Ellington Festival in NYC. “I guess you could say my first gig was at Avery Fisher Hall with Wynton Marsalis,” Gazarek chuckles.
Sara made her way south to Los Angeles in 2000 and found herself at the prestigious Thornton School of Music at USC, studying under the tutelage of John Clayton, Shelly Berg, Tierney Sutton, and Carmen Bradford. While there, Sara helped develop the JazzReach program and, as a result, was able to spend 2 years working with inner city elementary school children as a jazz choir director. “I’ll never forget that experience. It is so important to me to be out there, educating young people.” Sara continues to educate young people today as the sole ambassador for the non-profit music and arts education organization, Music For All. Sara and her band give clinics at local schools while on tour, because, as Gazarek puts it, “education is such an important part of our lives, and the band and I know we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for that one teacher who showed us the way. It is our duty to give back.”
In 2003, Sara was awarded the 2003 Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Collegiate Vocalist. Shortly after the publication hit the press, Sara was asked to perform with Oleta Adams, Karrin Allyson, and Diane Schuur as the "as yet undiscovered talent" on the Concord Jazz Festival tour. Simultaneously, Gazarek joined a number of a-list clientele (including Barry Manilow and Allyson) as a Stiletto Entertainment (management) client and was soon being booked by the industrious William Morris Agency. “I remember feeling very nervous about it all,” Sara recalls. “I’d had it drilled into me that a strong career at a young age was a fast track to obscurity.”
Luckily, at a time when it would have been easy for Gazarek to lose track of her artistic goals, John Clayton, a mentor and teacher at USC, provided a grounding influence. When record labels first came knocking and she started to question her place, it was Clayton who set her straight. “He said, ‘Sara, everyone has his or her own path, and there’s no path that’s any more respectable than any other,’” she recalls. “‘As long as you do your homework and keep striving to be a better musician, you’ll have a lasting career.’”
Clayton agreed to produce her first album, Yours, and insisted she develop the arrangements herself with the band she’d been performing with. She found musical soul mates in her group, and the resulting record was a debut that was released to national and international rave reviews. It ranked in the Top 10 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Charts, Top 10 on the iTunes top Jazz Album Downloads (US, UK, Switzerland, and Belgium), #1 on the iTunes Top Jazz Album Downloads (Germany, France), #5 on the Jazz Week Radio Charts, #4 on the HMV (Japan) chart. In addition, Sara was voted the #3 Best New Artist in the JazzTimes Readers Poll.
With her strong sense of gratitude, this talented, graceful, constantly evolving, emotionally direct, label-pushing vocalist will continue to “do her homework.” And judging by her second album, Sara Gazarek is going to have a lot to offer the music scene for many years to come.
Don't Know How to Stay
Sara Gazarek Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don't give yourself or take away from me.
Don't try to fix or even let things be.
I want you now, but I don't know how
To stay.
V.2
This mood I'm in is pushing you away.
But I need you now, and I don't know how
To stay.
Ch.
Watchin' it all fall apart,
Before it even starts,
It breaks my heart.
Willing to go all the way,
Each and every day,
If I stay,
But I don't know how to.
V.3
I'm in it now, but out of my mind.
It's hard for me, and hard on you I find.
I run around, and I can't be found
To stay.
Ch.
Watchin' it all fall apart,
Before it even starts,
It breaks my heart.
Willing to go all the way,
Each and every day,
If I stay,
But I don't know how to.
Br.
Hold tight for I am slipping,
This dream of mine is through.
I know to go is crazy,
Although our love is true.
(solo/interlude)
V.4
I'm at the end, and in another place
Before I go, just let me have some space.
I'm here and there, but it's all I can bare,
To stay
Ch.
Watchin' it all fall apart,
Before it even starts,
It breaks my heart.
Willing to go all the way,
Each and every day,
If I stay,
But I don't know how to.
The lyrics to Sara Gazarek's song Don't Know How To Stay deal with the struggle of staying in a relationship when one is unsure of how to navigate their own emotions. The singer is expressing a desire for their partner but is simultaneously pushing them away due to their uncertainty. The opening lines, "Don't give yourself or take away from me. Don't try to fix or even let things be," suggest that the singer is feeling overwhelmed and perhaps even suffocated by their partner's attempts to "fix" things.
The second verse furthers this idea, with the singer acknowledging that their current mood is causing them to push their partner away. They don't know how to stay in the relationship and are struggling to communicate this to their partner. The chorus emphasizes the singer's willingness to work through their emotions and remain in the relationship, but the uncertainty of how to do so is causing them pain.
In the bridge, the singer acknowledges that they are slipping away and that leaving the relationship may be seen as "crazy." However, they also recognize that their own emotional turmoil is becoming too much to handle and that they may need to step back to gain perspective.
Overall, the song highlights the complexities of relationships and how difficult it can be to navigate one's own emotions while trying to remain connected to another person.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't give yourself or take away from me.
Please don't change who you are and what we have together, and don't ask me to change either.
Don't try to fix or even let things be.
Stop trying to solve our problems or accepting the status quo. We need to work together to find solutions.
I want you now, but I don't know how
To stay.
I feel a strong connection to you, but I'm not sure how to maintain it over time.
This mood I'm in is pushing you away.
I'm struggling with my emotions and it's making it hard for us to connect.
'Don't second guess' is all that I can say.
I need you to trust me and understand that I'm doing the best I can even if it's not always clear to either of us.
But I need you now, and I don't know how
To stay.
Even though we might be struggling, I still need you in my life. But I'm worried that I won't be able to keep you close.
Watchin' it all fall apart,
Before it even starts,
It breaks my heart.
Seeing our relationship struggle before it even has a chance to grow is painful for me.
Willing to go all the way,
Each and every day,
If I stay,
But I don't know how to.
Despite my fears and doubts, I am committed to making this work. But I need your help to figure out how we can do that.
I'm in it now, but out of my mind.
I'm fully invested in this relationship, but my thoughts and emotions are all over the place and it's hard for me to be present.
It's hard for me, and hard on you I find.
Our struggles are taking a toll on both of us, and I recognize that and feel bad about it.
I run around, and I can't be found
To stay.
I feel like I'm always on the move, both physically and emotionally, and I don't know how to settle down and be present in our relationship.
Hold tight for I am slipping,
This dream of mine is through.
I know to go is crazy,
Although our love is true.
I'm losing my grip on this relationship and I'm not sure how to regain it. I know leaving would be a mistake, but it's tempting.
I'm at the end, and in another place
Before I go, just let me have some space.
I feel like our relationship is near the breaking point, and I need some time alone to figure out how I can fix it.
Contributed by Charlotte H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.