Lifelong music lovers in säje find a ‘Blessing’ in the pandemic
Comradery between friends unlocks their full potential
From left to right, Amanda Taylor, Sara Gazarek, Johnaye Kendrick and Erin Bentlage pose for a photo | Courtesy of säje
Before their first show together, the four members of säje had never even played a set together. Each just brought some of their own songs and practiced together for about five hours beforehand. It was nerve-racking.
“I felt so uncomfortable but that also may be one of the greatest moments of my life,” band member Sara Gazarek said.
Years later, the group looked back fondly and told their story before their April 21 performance in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Fest. And the secret to their success, even through the pandemic, was having each other.
All four women started out in music early. For Erin Bentlage, Amanda Taylor and Johnaye Kendrick, it followed more traditional means.
Bentlage fell in love with ballet early on but also dabbled with piano. When she got burned out on that, she started singing.
Taylor’s introduction to music was with piano, bass and choir. In high school, she began writing music, and at 17 she joined her first band “Groove for Thought.”
Kendrick’s parents made her learn piano, despite her best wishes. But along the way, she fell in love with violin. During Friday’s talk, Kendrick laughed as she recalled a tear-soaked letter to her parents that stated, “Please don’t take my violin away, it’s my only true friend.”
Gazarek, on the other hand, started out in music a little differently.
Her family was not musical, but as a little girl she enjoyed bouncing on a trampoline and singing. Her first instrument was the saxophone because she wanted to be like Lisa Simpson.
Through years of academia, jazz degrees and music awards, the four individually carved their names into the jazz world. But their fate together was set in motion when Gazarek performed alongside Taylor’s band “Groove for Thought” at a jazz fest.
“After the show, I went up to her and blacked out and didn’t realize my mouth was saying the words ‘Would you ever want to be in a vocal group with me?’” Gazarek said.
Then Gazarek wrangled her previous acquaintances Kendrick and Bentlage, who expressed interest in joining a band. In 2018, they formed säje — a clever acronym for Sara, Amanda, Johnaye and Erin.
Shortly after, the four soon-to-be-friends that were scattered across the west met up, got to know each other and wrote “Desert Song.” Even three years and many songs later, they still describe it as their baby.
“That was sort of a reflection on the experience of being four women primarily existing in a space where we are the only female-identifying musicians in the room and finally being in a position where we are working only with other female-identifying musicians,” Gazarek said.
In 2020, säje started performing at jazz fests and clubs and began to build a following as a group. That was until March, when a pandemic took the performing world to a grinding halt. Suddenly they had nothing better to do than sit at home.
But they thrived. They kept working together over Zoom. They planned albums. They even made it to the virtual Grammys.
“It’s weird to think there’s like a blessing in the pandemic,” Gazarek said.
And it all was possible because they fused together, challenged each other to make jazz they could call their own, and supported each other.
“Sometimes you can’t necessarily see all the greatness in yourself,” Kendrick said. “Maybe you can’t see what you’re capable of. But if you can see it in the people around you, then that’s what gives you the audacity.”
This story appeared in a larger staff report for the University of Idaho Argonaut on April 25, 2023.