Braden was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He began playing tenor sax at age 13 and started playing professionally at 15. As a high schooler he played in the McDonald's All-American High School Jazz Band. He attended Harvard University from 1981 to 1984 and studied engineering there, but also played in the school's jazz ensemble. He moved to New York City in 1984, where he played with The Harper Brothers, Lonnie Smith, and Betty Carter. In 1986-87 he toured with Wynton Marsalis, and following this played with Out of the Blue, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Tom Harrell, Art Farmer, and the Mingus Big Band.

One of new age electronic music's earliest and best-known proponents, Shadowfax was formed in Chicago in 1972 by saxophonist Chuck Greenberg, guitarist G.E. Stinson and bassist Phil Maggini. Originally a blues band, the trio soon began exploring chamber jazz and folk; even medieval music began creeping into the mix, appropriately enough for a group named in honor of a horse from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. Adding drummer Stuart Nevin in 1974, Shadowfax issued their debut LP, Watercourse Way, two years later; failing to make an immediate impact, the quartet did attract a cult following which continued to grow following their subsequent signing to the Windham Hill label. 1982's eponymously titled effort was their commerical breakthrough, reaching the upper rungs of the Billboard jazz charts; for the follow-up, 1983's Shadowdance, Shadowfax's ranks swelled with the additions of violinist Jamii Szmadzinski and pianist/synth player Jared Stewart. The group endured multiple personnel changes in the years to follow, with founding members Greenberg and Maggini both remaining constants well into the 1990s

Sara Lazarus is in no hurry. After the Delaware-born French emigr won first prize at the 1994 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, she waited over a decade to record her debut, 2005's Give Me the Simple Life. To the benefit of jazz listeners, she didn't wait long to record a followup: It's All Right With Me finds the singer once again taking her time and making every word count, as if to imbue each syllable with the deepest possible meaning. The result is a fresh take on classic songs that avoids overindulgent flashiness.
Like her debut, which covered the well-worn theme of love, It's All Right With Me recalls the Frank Sinatra concept albums of yesteryear. Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (Warner Brothers, 1967) comes to mind, but instead of bossa nova, Lazarus has opted for gypsy-influenced jazz, finding ideal support in Bireli Lagrne's Gipsy Project...