Reza Khan

Reza Khan

Musicians | Instrument: Guitar | Location: New York City

With his latest and most ambitious album to date, he’s ready to join the ranks of all the greats he has played with for years, reaching new levels of acceptance and success.

—Jonathan Widran

Updated: April 9, 2024

Born: February 10, 1965

A socially conscious musical citizen of the world, Reza Khan has a long-established history of blazing fresh trails, pushing limits and finding unique ways to redefine what is possible in contemporary jazz. Working with some of the genre’s most revered sidemen, the Bangladesh born and raised, NYC-based composer/guitarist has, since his 2009 debut Painted Diaries, taken a freewheeling approach to creating his dynamic, infectious yet unpredictable fusion of pop, jazz, soul and world music influences. Having scored his first Billboard Top Ten single with “Drop of Faith” from his critically acclaimed fifth album Next Train Home, the most logical approach moving ahead would have been a slick, in the pocket urban/smooth jazz session. Instead, helping us navigate our way through the darkness, anxiety and steep challenges of the past year, Khan graces us with an empowering way forward along a fascinating, twist and turn filled Imaginary Road.

As the guitarist takes us from the kaleidoscopic rays of sunshine infusing “Waiting for the Sky” to an ultimately hopeful journey of limitless landscapes on the closing title track, he follows in his long tradition of creating a multi-faceted theme driven musical narrative. “Perhaps it’s counter-intuitive, but while working on song sketches in different styles after releasing Next Train Home, my first thought was, how do I make this CD very personal and less commercial,” says Khan, whose previous albums include A Simple Plan (2011), The Dreamwalker (2013) and Wind Dance (2016). “On a sociopolitical scale,” he says, “there were many things going on during the writing that made me as an immigrant ask myself what I believe of America, what it has been and what it will be. I started thinking about survival. Can we survive the pandemic and these toxic politics? As I like to say, it’s becoming unbelievable to believe what you believe in.

“All my previous albums evolved from concepts that were tied to specific themes,” he adds. “I never just put together a batch of single songs. I grew up loving the kinds of concept albums Pink Floyd and The Alan Parsons Project created and have always wanted my works to follow that kind of journey. Otherwise, what’s the meaning? I reflect on the deeper questions I have had lately on songs like ‘Waiting for the Sky,’ where the image of the sky is the hopeful light of certainty after a period of darkness, and ‘I See Stars,’ where if I can view them clearly, I will know where I am.”While Khan’s name is the one atop Imaginary Road and he is credited as writer/producer, the ten-track set is once again a largely collaborative effort featuring his longtime collaborative core band – bassist Mark Egan, pianist Matt King, rhythm and classical guitarist Sergio Pereira, drummer Maurizio Zottarelli – and guest artists David Mann (all wind instruments), Acoustic Alchemy’s Miles Gilderdale (electric lead guitar) and Philippe Saisse (synth, Moog, Melodion, mallets). Khan writes in his eloquent liner notes that he had been traveling to and performing in Spain frequently over the past few years, pre-pandemic. During his last trip to Valencia, he and his band performed at the Matisse Club, a place where jazz and salsa music mingle freely. Inspired by the energy of those gigs, the five-piece ensemble hit the studio one weekend to cut the seven scratch tracks that laid the foundation for what evolved, over the course of the next six months, into Imaginary Road.

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Album Review

Reza Khan: Imaginary Road

Read "Imaginary Road" reviewed by Jack Bowers


To impartially assess Imaginary Road, Bangladeshi-raised, New York-based guitarist Reza Khan's sixth album, it is best to lay aside as best one can his disposition for or against what could reasonably be labeled “smooth jazz" and start from there. Is the music melodically and rhythmically likeable? Yes, it is. Are the musicians technically able? Yes, they are. Beyond that, what can be said? Well, the ten songs are essentially atmospheric, depicting the sort of aural landscapes that ...

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126

Recording

Reza Khan & Painted Diaries New Recording, "A Simple Plan"

Reza Khan & Painted Diaries New Recording, "A Simple Plan"

Source: Kl Ma

REZA KHAN AND PAINTED DIARIES ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH OF THEIR NEW STUDIO RECORDING, A SIMPLE PLAN, AVAILABLE NOW ON THE PAINTED MEDIA LABEL Features Andy Snitzer, Graham Hawthorne and Grammy Nominee Fabrice Dupont “It's like a nice walk on the beach with your family," says Reza Khan, speaking about his latest CD, A Simple Plan (on the Painted Media label). Following the 2009 release of Painted Diaries, a paean to the affecting stories of everyday life that “mostly disappear in ...

56

Recording

Reza Khan and Painted Diaries new release, "A Simple Plan," available now on the Painted Media

Source: Ron Knight

"It's like a nice walk on the beach with your family," says Reza Khan, speaking about his latest CD, A Simple Plan (on the Painted Media label). Following the 2009 release of Painted Diaries, a paean to the affecting stories of everyday life that “mostly disappear in peoples' diaries," Khan's restless artistry has turned inward now. A Simple Plan reawakens the special times in the artist's life, uncomplicated and familiar yet profound and inspirational, which he is happy to share, ...

Contemporary Fusion Reviews: "Magically melodic guitar jazz Reza Khan – Imaginary Road" FEBRUARY 11, 2021 Keys and Chords: REZA KHAN “IMAGINARY ROAD” EXCERPT: “In his career, Reza Khan has created his own musical world, performing music that is often easy-listening but never predictable. His guitar solos, while inspired at times by Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour and Wes Montgomery, have their own musical personality. MARCH 3, 2021 Midwest Record: February 12, 2021 Review EXCERPT: “REZA KHAN/Imaginary Road: A smooth jazz guitarist naming his album after Will Ackerman’s later in life record label? Are we looking for a hidden message? Right in the pocket of those highly enjoyable, west coast non-new age instrumental albums by guitarists and their A list pals

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Acoustic Alchemy
band / ensemble / orchestra
Chuck Loeb
guitar
Pat Metheny
guitar

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Publicist

Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Music

Waiting for the Sky

From: Imaginary Road
By Reza Khan