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Sara Jones is currently promoting her career as a jazz vocalist – a specialty that she stumbled upon somewhat accidentally during her time at Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. While completing her master’s degree in piano, Jones attempted to take a jazz piano class. When she was unable to get in, she took a jazz vocal class instead.

“It ended up being really fun, and I enjoyed it” Jones said. “And singing is, at least from my personal experience, really freeing because you’re only responsible for one note at a time.”

Her new interest ended up aiding her direction after graduate school, when she and a friend from undergrad decided to try out for the U.S. Army Field Band. Both friends had been in graduate school and didn’t know what they wanted to do, Jones said.

“My friend said, ‘You have pretty good pitch. You should try out,’” she said. Trying out led to six years singing with the Army Field Band, occasionally accompanying on piano.

“You do have to join the army, but all you had to do is sing,” Jones said. Which is not to say that the experience didn’t keep her busy. Because of her time singing with the army, Jones says she has been in every state except for Hawaii.

“We traveled about 120 days a year,” she said.

While Jones said the Army Field Band was a great place for her to start, she is now glad to be singing on her own.

“Being in that band, you don’t have time for much else,” she said. Now that she has free time, Jones is working on her first album.

“I’m really excited about getting the arrangements together and just making some really interesting versions,” she said. Jones is working on the album with producer Paul Langosch, a jazz bassist who recently spent twenty years playing with Tony Bennett. The two met during one of Jones’s performances at Jordan’s Steakhouse in Ellicott City.

“The first thing I noticed about Sara is she is such a good musician, that it really made for a new experience,” Langosch said. He noted that Jones’s performance was not just pleasurable for the audience, but for the band as well.

“I was just very impressed with her from the first note that I heard her sing,” Langosch said.

The two decided to work on an album together because of their similar musical interests.

“Basically it just started with us just having general conversation about musical goals, what we liked about CDs that are being made today, what we didn’t like about CDs,” Langosch said. “She just really felt that we were kind of on the same page in our approach to music.”

As the two prepare for the album, which is currently still in pre-production, Jones has been playing nearby concerts.

“I’ve played in a couple of other places, just here and there, but mostly I stay in the local area,” she said. “I’m really interested in going outside of that, but until I finish recording, I really need to focus my energies here.”

Recently, Jones played a show in her hometown, Easton Maryland.

“It was a great experience,” she said. “It’s always really wonderful to play for an audience that has a lot of people that have known you since you were five. I really love doing shows down there.”

While her album has been her main focus, Jones said she is also trying to be a successful freelance musician. Her efforts so far have included an appearance on the Young Brothers’ 2007 release, “Tales of Time.” While the Young Brothers are also from the nearby DC area, Jones said she became acquainted with pianist Tim Young during her time in the Army Field Band.

“We’d worked together a bunch of times,” Jones said. “He said ‘I’d really like some vocals on my album. Are you interested?’ I said ‘Sure.’”

Jones, in general, is happy to be simply working for herself. She said she wants to make music for a living in as many places and as many times as she can.

“I’m really, really excited about working for myself,” she said. “I feel like I have a lot more choices. It’s been a lot of fun and I really got to do neat gigs and find my own work, and that’s really empowering.”

Jones has many upcoming shows in Virginia in Maryland this month. Check out her schedule at www.sarajonesmusic.com.