Sara Decker
The album page places Long Distance in Sara’s New York years; her songs turn distance and friendship into intimate jazz storytelling.
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Sara Decker Group · Debut album · 2017
Long
Distance.
From Sara’s New York years.
Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn.
Featured song
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
If playback is unavailable here, watch directly on YouTube.
About the project
The New York recordings.
The songs trace friendship, loneliness and relationships across distances: Sara’s personal Big Apple tales. Alongside her originals, How Deep Is the Ocean and It Never Entered My Mind explore her own approach to swing. The music holds on to New York’s energy and the feeling that anything might be possible.
Long Distance grew out of Sara Decker’s time in New York, where she studied at the Manhattan School of Music with a Fulbright scholarship. Her debut album brings her songwriting together with an American-European ensemble, recorded at Systems Two in Brooklyn and released in 2017.
There was no label team behind the record. Sara Decker and drummer Jeroen Truyen made it independently. Sara wrote and arranged the music; Jeroen handled production, mix, editing and cover design. Dave Darlington mastered the recordings.
On The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, a spare opening grows into a fuller ensemble sound. Trombone, trumpet, piano and voice leave room for the song’s vulnerability before the rhythm section opens up the chorus.
The ensemble
Musicians behind the sound.
Seven individual voices, captured in Brooklyn.
Julius Rodriguez
The Times later highlighted the agile piano voicings of his own music; that openness is already audible in this ensemble playing.
Kaisa Mäensivu
Her artist biography cites London Jazz News, which praises her strong, highly musical bass presence.
Jeroen Truyen
The album credits document drums, production, mix and editing—shaping both the rhythmic foundation and the finished sound.
Oskar Stenmark
The recording reveals his warm, lyrical brass as a finely judged countervoice to Sara’s vocal.
Caleb Mason
On the album, his trombone gives the arrangements weight and colour without losing their transparency.
Schadrack Pierre
On the album, his backing vocals add warm, soulful layers around Sara’s voice.
Album credits
- Vocals & arrangements
- Sara Decker
- Piano
- Julius Rodriguez
- Bass
- Kaisa Mäensivu
- Drums
- Jeroen Truyen
- Trumpet & flugelhorn
- Oskar Stenmark
- Trombone
- Caleb Mason
- Backing vocals
- Schadrack Pierre
- Production, mix & editing
- Jeroen Truyen
- Mastering
- Dave Darlington
- Cover design
- Jeroen Truyen
- Recorded at
- Systems Two, Brooklyn
- Released
- Independently · 2017
Long Distance · Sara Decker Group
Experience Long Distance live.
Bring Long Distance to your festival, club or concert series.