SAGE- All Womens Jazz and Blues Super Group, featuring Lakecia Benjamin,  Miki Hayama, Charissa Rouse, Mimi Jones,  Kersten Stevens, and Shirazette Tinnin

There comes a time when all the elements of excellence converge under the same domain and produce an incomparable result, never before experienced. SAGE, the all-women’s jazz, blues and contemporary ensemble, has dared to rise to this historic place in music with a sound that transcends time and generation. Part contemporary, part sassy, part nostalgic, these ladies deliver what every music audience is looking for, the best in the art.

After only three years, the group and its members have opened for and appeared with Ray Charles, Denzel Washington, Regina Carter, the Duke Ellington Show Choir and many others. This unique group has headlined at The Waldorf Astoria, Stamford Center for the Arts, The Shubert Theater, and Chelsea Piers. A recent engagement for Bobby Valentine at the Westin Hotel in Connecticut had the audience of more than 1500 on their feet in celebration.

 Style, beauty and musicianship are the trademarks of this one of a kind ensemble, which has no limits on repertoire and vision. Mala Waldron, pianist and principal vocalist with the group, is equally masterful on jazz standards as she is with R&B contemporaries and the blues. Kersten Stevens, a bright young talent currently studying at Yale University, has taken jazz violin to a new dimension by infusing elements of hip-hop and gospel overtones creating an event with every song.  Bassist Miriam Sullivan brings depth and virtuosity to the unique voice of this sextet with inspired statements and tones on the upright that flow and surge improvisationally and melodically. Delivering the rhythm like no one else can is premier drummer Bernice Brooks who guides the group with a pulse and downbeat seldom heard and always applauded.

Previous Band members included: Flutist and singer Ragan Whiteside  and Tia Fuller, a very respected band leader in her own right,