A young jazz saxophonist based in New York City, Sarah Hanahan is a generational talent on the rise. Sarah was featured in the first-ever class of NPR Jazz Night in America’s Youngbloods alongside Samara Joy, Immanuel Wilkins, Isaiah J. Thompson, and Sean Mason. The series features “five up-and-coming jazz geniuses who are revolutionizing their genre” - all of whom are under the age of 30. Her debut album, Among Giants (2024), earned critical acclaim, including a 5-star review in DownBeat magazine and placement in their Top Albums of the Year list in 2024 and 2025. In 2025, Hanahan was named DownBeat’s #1 Rising Star Alto Saxophonist and ranked #9 overall alto saxophonist in the DownBeat Readers Poll—placing her alongside legends such as Kenny Garrett and Gary Bartz and further cementing her status as one of the leading voices of her generation.

Sarah has had the privilege of studying and working with many renowned musicians including Jeff “Tain” Watts, Abraham Burton, Nat Reeves, Peter Martin, Emmet Cohen, Steve Davis, Billy Hart, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Billy Drummond, Marc Cary, and has toured with Joe Farnsworth, Peter Martin, Ulysses Owens Jr. & Generation Y, and Sherrie Miracle & the Diva Orchestra. She also had the opportunity to play for the 2023 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert at the Kennedy Center honoring Sue Mingus with the Grammy award-winning Mingus Dynasty Band.