Suzanne Grzanna, professionally known as Sax Diva, has spent decades building a career that spans jazz records, film and TV placements, and a catalog of over ninety songs on her own Diva Records label. Raised in a musical family outside Milwaukee, she started on piano at five before settling on alto saxophone by seventh grade, and that background shows in how comfortably “Sunset Dreams,” out July 3rd, moves. Written as a medium-tempo samba, the track leans into warmth and optimism, built around a full band: drummer Terry Smirl, bassist Hal Miller, and pianist Scott Currier alongside Grzanna’s own saxophone work.
As someone who was just introduced to Suzanne Grzanna and deeply enjoys jazz, I have to say this is absolutely sublime. Tasteful melodies and great rapport between the band, back and forth between the head of the song and the solo sections- this is what jazz is all about. I have to give props to the unsung heroes; the rhythm section here- Terry Smirl on drums, Hal Miller on bass, and Scott Currier on piano- are killing it, and they are what make Suzanne’s sax improvisation and playing sound so good.
That rapport is really the whole engine of the track. Smirl’s groove opens the song and sets the pace immediately, Miller keeps the low end steady and driving underneath everything else, and Currier’s piano solo gets room to actually stretch out and swing rather than just filling space. It’s the kind of chemistry that only comes from musicians who know how to listen to each other, and it gives Grzanna’s own playing somewhere solid to launch from every time she steps forward.
“Sunset Dreams” plays like a genuinely collaborative jazz performance rather than a leader-plus-backing-band arrangement, and that balance is exactly what makes it work as well as it does. For a career built on this many years of stage time and studio experience, it’s a strong reminder of what a tight, well-matched combo sounds like when everyone in the room is fully locked in together.