Jazz Articles about Zara McFarlane

About Zara McFarlane

Album Review

Zara McFarlane: If You Knew Her

Read "If You Knew Her" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 8, 2014

On her full-length follow up to 2010's EP Until Tomorrow, London-based singer Zara McFarlane perfects her blend of austere instrumentation and mantra-like rhythms supporting her rich and warm voice that owe more to Mongo Santamaria than reputedly Nina Simone or Roberta Flack. An album centerpiece, “Woman in the Olive Groves" undulates like “Afro Blue" while being able to act as its logical prelude. Backed by a traditional rhythm trio, McFarlane fulfills the potential of her subtle and muscular voice which ...

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Album Review

Zara McFarlane: Until Tomorrow

Read "Until Tomorrow" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
October 10, 2011

Until Tomorrow, from young London-based singer and writer Zara McFarlane, is a delight. This is not McFarlane's first recording--her 2010 self-produced six-track EP, also called Until Tomorrow, debuted some of these songs, and she has also recorded with the Jazz Jamaica All Stars--but it's her first full-length album. Filled with fresh and beautifully crafted compositions, it signals McFarlane's maturing talents as a singer and songwriter with a distinctive take on the art of the song. McFarlane is ...