Sarah Jane Cion

Sarah Jane Cion is an award-winning jazz pianist, composer, and educator, and the creator of The All-In-One Piano Songbook Series, a collection of accessible repertoire books designed to help students, returning players and music lovers experience the joy of playing the piano.

Her newest release, The All-In-One Piano Songbook: 99 Popular Hits for Every Pianist, features beloved pop songs and movie themes in approachable piano arrangements for teens, adults and returning players.

Sarah Jane Cion caresses the piano with sensitivity and love, and the colors she uses demonstrate her gift and vision.

—McCoy Tyner

Sarah Jane Cion was the 1st Place Winner of the internationally acclaimed 17th Annual Great American Jazz Piano Competition held in Jacksonville Florida on November 11th, 1999, judged by Horace Silver, Kenny Barron, Benny Green, Bill Charlap and Ellis Marsalis. Ms. Cion’s trio performed in Japan at the Fukuoka Blue Note in 2000, followed by an appearance on the nationally syndicated NPR radio show “Piano Jazz” with Marian McPartland.

Sarah Jane Cion is a heavyweight.

—Johnny Mandel

Sarah has performed with jazz legends such as Clark Terry, Etta Jones, Della Griffin, Anita O’Day, Carmen Leggio, Bucky Pizzarelli, Ralph LaLama, Allan Harris, James McBride, and many others. Her debut CD, Indeed! features alto saxophonist Antonio Hart and drummer Tony Reedus. Her second release Moon Song, on the Naxos Jazz label, features tenorman Chris Potter and Billy Hart on drums. Her third CD, Summer Night, features saxophone giant Michael Brecker.

Sarah is a marvelous, marvelous, marvelous jazz piano player. She is young, talented, creative and imaginative. Watch out!

—Clark Terry

Cion’s articles and transcriptions have been published in Piano Today magazine, and she is a contributor to the Steinway Library of Piano Music: Jazz Piano-Pieces To Grow On, sharing the roster with Bill Dobbins, Dick Hyman, Andy LaVerne and many others. Her original song “It’s Christmas Time, Once Again” was a finalist in the internationally-acclaimed John Lennon Songwriting Contest and her music was a staple on the long-running WABC TV soap All My Children. Her original “Golden Song” was featured in Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor: The Dark World and Clint Eastwood included Cion’s “Cat in the Hat” in The Mule—released by Warner Bros. Pictures in 2018.

The music of Sarah Jane Cion is unapologetically pretty. It proceeds from her poetic vision, warm and elegiac, and her right hand takes us with her as it climbs.

—Thomas Conrad, DOWNBEAT

A lifelong student, teacher, and jazz educator, Sarah has also authored Lara’s Lullabies, A Baker’s Dozen, The Pianist’s Jammin’ Handbook, Modern Jazz Piano Revealed, and The Ultimate Play by Ear Piano Method.

Critical, radio and peer respect has established Cion as a premier jazz pianist. This young talent from New York exhibits a rare sense of melody and rhythm.

—Ernie Rideout, KEYBOARD

There should be little surprise that Cion has earned her place in distinguished company. Summer Night expresses Cion's sensitive and inventive approach to jazz piano in multiple ways. On an original composition such as the tumbling, free-like “Psychic Warrior,” her dizzying improvisations seem to challenge tonality, while her melody “The Safflower,” is built on chords that befit the Great American Songbook—with layered harmonies that suggest Bill Evans.

—Drew Wheeler, CDNow.com

Cion graduated from the New England Conservatory in 1990 with honors and distinction in composition and performance, and currently lives in Riverdale, NY with her two children. Cion’s latest project is co-founding a Big Band with award winning trombonist Dave Levitt and Nancy Marron, president of the Yonkers Public Library.

You don't have to listen to pianist Sarah Jane Cion for long before words like “warm” and “elegant” come to mind. Her playing is so assured and consistent, and she also possesses a unique talent for composition; her compositions are as refined and mature as her playing.

—John Frederick Moore, JAZZIZ Magazine

Sarah’s 2022 CD It’s Time is released on the That Jazz Show label featuring Alec Safy on bass and Mike Camacho on drums.

Sarah Jane Cion is consistent in the tremendously high level of her playing and composing. She is a pianist in the tradition of Bill Evans, Alan Broadbent, and Fred Hersch, with a bit of Erroll Garner and Kenny Barron thrown in. Her music is sumptuously melodic, cleverly harmonic, and intelligently lyrical. This is music of the highest caliber.

—C. Michael Baily, AllAboutJazz

In addition to her performing and composing career, Cion is passionate about helping pianists rediscover the joy of playing through her educational books and repertoire series.