Sara Wasserman, the daughter of Rob Wasserman, legendary Grammy® Award-winning bassist, was literally born to sing.   Over the course of the past seven years, her family’s roots and shoots led her to musical collaborations with Aaron Neville, Christian McBride, Lou Reed, Vernon Reid, DJ Logic and Stephen Perkins.   The result is Solid Ground,  an album of songs that are both the reflection of a beautifully creative soul and serves as a brilliant showcase for a truly spectacular voice.  San Diego-based independent That Other Label, a division of Pacific Coast Jazz, has slated June 16th for the album’s physical and digital release
 
Solid Ground, produced by Sara with Randy Emata, is the result of a very human adventure that saw the artist travel wherever the music told her to go: from Southern California to New Orleans to New York to San Francisco and even to Peru.  

As she grew up, she was exposed to more great music and became fascinated with Etta James, Bonnie Raitt and Whitney Houston. She first performed professionally, sitting in with RatDog (Bob Weir and her father’s band) at The Further Festival in 1997.  She followed Bonnie Raitt, one of her idols, and sang a song that had been written by her father and the late “Gentleman” Jim Capaldi of Traffic before a mesmerized crowd of 20,000 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA.  The song was “Solid Ground.”  Twelve years later that same song serves as the title track to her debut album.  

She realized that she was actually in the process of making an album about three years into it; she recorded, worked with others and grew her work most organically, like a gardener. The result is an album that reflects different times and facets of Sara’s life so it’s very difficult to categorize. Certainly there are jazz overtones but her pop sensibility is strong and the girl also knows how to rock.

While the legendary Aaron Neville duets with her on one track, “Fly Away,” he served as her songwriting partner on two other songs, “Fresh Out of Tears” and “I Am A Song,” that she recorded on her own. One notable cover is Hall & Oates classic “Sara Smile” that includes blazing guitar work from Living Colour’s Vernon Reid. Also appearing in support of Sara are Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, jazz and funk bass great Christian McBride, Lou Reed on acoustic guitar and noted jazz/jam turntablist DJ Logic as well as pater familias Rob Wasserman.

The album is dedicated to the children of Casa de Milagros in Cusco, Peru where Sara visited in 2008. Sara writes in the notes to  Solid Ground, “I was so inspired when I visited the home for orphaned and abandoned children that I knew I needed to dedicate this labor of love to them.  I believe music is healing and am grateful that it has been part of my life from day one.” A portion of the proceeds from the album sales will be donated to Casa de Milagros. For more information on the Casa de Milagros visit www.chandlersky.org <http://www.chandlersky.org>   

Bob Merlis