Jessica Sarles

Singer Jessica Sarles was born and raised on a healthy diet of blues, folk and rock n' roll in Dutchess County NY. One of her earliest memories is of standing on her family's dining room table singing along to Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again".  She made her singing debut in her kindergarten class production of Christmas Snow. While in High School, she was awarded the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award, the National School Choral Award and was voted Most Musical in her Senior Yearbook.

After graduation, Jessica shocked her family by announcing that she would study opera when she enrolled at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College. She soon realized that she would never grace the stage of La Scala and changed her concentration to jazz music, studying with artists like Dena DeRose, Roseanna Vitro, Jon Faddis and Ralph Lalama.  A budding impresario, she was the coordinator of the Purchase Jazz Club from 2002-2003, bringing in many sought-after musicians in the New York jazz scene such as John Abercrombie, Ben Monder, and Kate McGarry, and winning the Student Government's award for Best Club that year.

Jessica graduated Magna Cum Laude from SUNY Purchase in May of 2004 with a Bachelor's Degree in Music with a concentration in Jazz Studies and a minor in French Language and Culture. She has performed in venues all over New York City, including the Copacabana, Cipriani and Jazz at Lincoln Center. After graduation, however, her musical focus began to shift from jazz standards to Brazilian music, and she now performs bossa nova, samba and MPB almost exclusively.

Jessica can be seen performing currently with her group Gringa, a Brazilian jazz/pop band, as well as with Samba Nation Batucada as a singer and a percussionist. In addition, she is the general coordinator and member of AJAH-YO, an Afro-Brazilian beat group based in Brooklyn.