Results for "Zoe Rahman"
Zoe Rahman

Described in The Observer as "a remarkable pianist by any standard”, Zoe Rahman has firmly established herself as one of the brightest stars on the contemporary jazz scene. A vibrant and highly individual pianist/composer, her style is deeply rooted in jazz yet it reflects her classical background, British/Bengali heritage and her very broad musical taste. Known for her powerful technique, wide-ranging imagination and exuberant performance, she has become a highly sought-after musician. Born in Chichester, UK, to a Bengali father and English mother, Zoe studied classical piano at the Royal Academy of Music, took a music degree at Oxford University and then won a scholarship to study jazz performance at Berklee College of Music, Boston, where she studied with the inspirational pianist JoAnne Brackeen. Her second album, "Melting Pot", was nominated in 2006 for one of the UK’s most prestigious music awards, the Nationwide Mercury Prize and it also won ‘Jazz Album of the Year’ at the UK’s first Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Since then, she has recorded two more critically acclaimed albums
Soothsayers: Soothsayers Meets Victor Rice & Friends

by Chris May
Nobody does it better, so the song goes, though whether the innuendo resonates most strongly with the singer, Carly Simon, or the lyrics's supposed protagonist, James Bond, depends, as it were, on the direction in which the listener is pointing. But whatever. In the context of Soothsayers Meets Victor Rice & Friends, the song's hook becomes ...
From George Coleman to Meeco: Ten Overlooked Classics

by Chris May
The only thread running through this installment of Building A Jazz Library is that of unsung quality. No particular artist is spotlighted, nor any particular genre. There are simply ten, randomly selected albums, recorded in the US and Europe between 1953 and 2021, which show jazz off at its finest, but which, for one reason or ...
Ill Considered - Reconsidered

by Karl Ackermann
London Calling, AgainAround 2010, the South London jazz scene began breaking with tradition for an alternative union of music rooted in global cultures. It represented a fundamental change in the way young Londoners related to music; the rhythms were infused with hip hop, spiritual jazz, dubstep, funk, groove, reggae, and future soul in various combinations. In ...
Andrew Woolf: Song Unsung

by Chris May
Although London-based tenor saxophonist Andrew Woolf has been releasing records since 2012, Song Unsung is the first he has issued under his own name. His debut, which was actually recorded in 2008, was the EP Soma Quartet (Self Produced), made by Woolf, electric guitarist Ryan Williams, double bassist Will Collier and trumpeter Joe Auckland. The disc ...
Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz

by Chris May
Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz David Burke 240 Pages ISBN: 9781908755483 Desert Hearts 2021 David Burke's survey of British jazz musicians of colour does not begin promisingly. The first sentence of his Foreword reads: Jazz is, of course, African-American in provenance, just as the greatest ...
Serendip Quartet: Queen Of Fire

by Chris May
This is the second album from Belgian tenor saxophonist Arnaud Guichard's Serendip Quartet. The first, The Tale (Impeka, 2018), received a deserved four-star review on All About Jazz, and Queen Of Fire is just as good, if not better. The first album's singular intersection of Ben Webster and mild hallucinogenics is still there to be savoured, ...
Soothsayers: We Are Many

by Chris May
Straddling jazz, Afrobeat, conscious reggae and dub, South London's Soothsayers is among the top ten must-see attractions on Britain's club circuit (on hold for the duration). Soothsayers can make the lame not merely walk, but dance. We Are Many is the band's ninth studio album and it is a superbly well-realized production, up there with an ...
Saxophone Colossi: An Alternative Top Ten Banging Albums

by Chris May
Miles Davis once said you could tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker. You might want to add John Coltrane, you might even want to add Davis. But however you cut it, saxophones and trumpets have been the flag bearers of the music. Trumpets got things rolling and saxophones came into ...
River City Jazz Masters Preview, Newk, Tadd & More

by Marc Cohn
Happy 89th birthday to Mr. Sonny Rollins! After some 21st century music from Hudson, Joshua Redman (his latest), UK pianist Zoe Rahman [whew!], Chicagoland's Geof Bradfield & Kamasi Washington, we preview the Baton Rouge River City Jazz Masters 2019-2020 season at the Manship Theatre (Eddie Palmieri, Eric Alexander, Nicholas Payton AND Jazzmeia Horn)! It's ...