Zahili Gonzalez Zamora: Overcoming

Zahili Zamora's journey from Cuba to Boston via Southeast Asia is reflected in her aptly titled five-track album, Overcoming. A pianist, composer and now educator, she tackles her fears and difficult life experiences head-on in the work, through sound, emotion and rhythm.

At 22 Zamora was in a high-calibre all-female band that toured often outside of Cuba, when on a whim the band decided to stay in Canada after performing there. The country offered far more freedom than Cuba for Zamora to express herself musically, and she began to collaborate with musicians from other cultures. After six years she became a Canadian citizen, which opened doors to travel even more extensively, and led to performing in Southeast Asia and settling there for another six years. Even though much of her playing was in dance clubs, it was the early hour, slower sets that crystallized her love of jazz. Many of her fellow musicians in Southeast Asia had studied jazz at Berklee College in Boston, and encouraged her to do the same. She secured a scholarship, moved to Boston and has been there ever since. In 2019, she joined Berklee's piano department and is now an associate professor and teaches the master's program.

Overcoming was born during her own master's studies, and clearly demonstrates the blending of her diverse musical influences from across the world, and from Bach to Bill Evans. It was recorded with a formidable band, many from Cuba too including Pedrito Martinez on percussion, who has recorded and performed with the likes of Paul Simon, Paquito D'Rivera, Eddie Palmieri, and Sting. Also featured is Sean Jones on flugelhorn, an internationally recognized trumpet player and educator, and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall's NYO Jazz ensemble.

The album is a deep, engaging listen full of variety. For a five-track album, it covers a lot of ground. One to listen to and enjoy on repeat. The Cuban rhythms are there, driven by Martinez and Keisel Jimenez Leyva, but are not overpowering. "Rumination" includes a spoken word section from Zamora, with solos and accompaniment from Jones. A bubbling reflective piece with Latin swing. Zamora and the band really let loose on "Blissful Sorrow," with Yosvany Terry, another Cuban musician, on soprano sax. There is the feel of the later Wayne Shorter bands to this, both in sound and composition, with added wordless vocals again from Zamora. "Despair" is just Zamora and Jones, piano and flugelhorn working beautifully together. "Duality Embrace" is an outstanding solo piece from the pianist, time standing still as she channels her classical and jazz influences. The final track, "Negra," is in Zamora's own words "about embracing my roots, the color of my skin, the texture of my hair, and the rhythms that resonate within me. It celebrates the full acceptance of my identity, encompassing the Black, the white, the Asian and the Native in me." A piece with tension, fiery Cuban support, and like the whole album, ultimately resolution.

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