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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. "Live" showcases her superb trio, American drummer Gene Calderazzo and British bass player Oli Hayhurst, as well as featuring the hauntingly beautiful playing of her brother, clarinetist Idris Rahman. Her fourth album, "Where Rivers Meet", is a stunning collaboration with her brother Idris, exploring music from their Bengali heritage. Originally they toured this project in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as a duo but for the album they teamed up with Zoe’s trio as well as Dhaka-based vocal stars Arnob and Gaurob, violinist Samy Bishai and percussionist Kuljit Bhamra to produce “a wholly original brand of Anglo-Asian music” (Sunday Times).

Zoe has toured extensively throughout the UK and internationally, including, most recently: North Sea Jazz Festival; Molde Jazz Festival; Palermo Jazz Festival; Algeria’s European Cultural Festival; Cork Jazz Festival; Estonia’s Nargen Festival; Barbados Jazz Festival among many others.

She has been featured on numerous TV and radio programmes, including BBC2’s Jools Holland, BBC4’s Women in Jazz and ‘Way To Blue’, BBC2’s Desi DNA, Channel S, Bangla TV, Meridian TV, BBC Radio 4 (Front Row, Loose Ends, Woman’s Hour), BBC Radio 2 (Jools Holland, Courtney Pine, Charles Hazlewood), BBC Radio 3 (Late Junction, World on 3).

Aside from her own groups, she has worked with a diverse range of other artists, including: Courtney Pine; Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA Orchestra; Soothsayers, Clark Tracey; Martha Wainwright; Danny Thompson; Tony Bianco; Tom Bancroft’s ‘Band of Eden’; Steve Williamson; James Carter; Keziah Jones, Bob Moses among many others.

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3
Radio & Podcasts

Zoe Rahman, Jason Adasiewicz, Vilhelm Bromander

Read "Zoe Rahman, Jason Adasiewicz, Vilhelm Bromander" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


Zoe Rahman opens the show with the beautiful writing and arrangements of her latest album, followed by two remarkable recent releases by Jason Adasiewicz. At the end of the set the compelling music of Vilhelm Bromander.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Zoe Rahman “For Love" Colour of Sound (Manushi) 0:16 Host talks 6:33 Jason Adasiewicz “River Blindness" Roy's World (Corbett vs. Dempsey) 8:15 Jason Adasiewicz “The Waltz" Roscoe ...

7
Album Review

Zoe Rahman: Colour of Sound

Read "Colour of Sound" reviewed by Neil Duggan


If you have shown your virtuosity on the piano in a variety of live and studio recordings, been recognized as one of the leading lights in contemporary British jazz and won multiple awards, what do you do next? In Zoe Rahman's case, more of the same but expanded and magnified. Most often heard in a trio format, Rahman has assembled seven trusted musicians to create an uplifting album, The Colour of Sound. Perhaps resulting from her background in ...

5
Album Review

Courtney Pine: Spirituality

Read "Spirituality" reviewed by Chris May


In the 1980s, as a co-founder of the band Jazz Warriors and with his debut album Journey To The Urge Within (Island, 1986), reed player Courtney Pine inspired a generation young black British musicians, and not a few white ones, too. On Spirituality, Pine teams up with pianist Zoe Rahman, herself an influential figure, for a reprise of their album Song (The Ballad Book) (Destin-E, 2015). Both albums feature Pine on bass clarinet and Rahman in a ...

105
Extended Analysis

Zoe Rahman: Kindred Spirits

Read "Zoe Rahman: Kindred Spirits" reviewed by Chris May


Zoe RahmanKindred SpiritsManushi Records2012 Holy soul food, Batman! It feels good to listen to a musician who plays from the heart rather than the brain. Not that British pianist Zoe Rahman is deficient in the grey stuff or technique. She studied music at Oxford University, the Royal Academy of Music and Berklee; once, twice, three times an alumnus. But when Rahman is seated at the keyboard, and her band kicks in, ...

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Album Review

Zoe Rahman Trio: Live with special guest Idris Rahman

Read "Live with special guest Idris Rahman" reviewed by Chris May


Zoe Rahman was most recently heard on disc, as leader, with the enchanting Where Rivers Meet (Manushi, 2008), in which the British-born pianist explored her Bengali father's musical heritage. The core band for that album included Zoe's clarinetist brother, Idris, and her regular bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Gene Calderazzo, an American who's long been resident in London. The same quartet is featured on Live with special guest Idris Rahman, with Idris guesting on two tracks.

Live was ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Colour of Sound

Manushi Records
2023

buy

Spirituality

Destin-E Records
2022

buy

Zoe Rahman: Kindred...

Unknown label
2012

buy

Kindred Spirits

Not On Label
2011

buy

Live with special...

Manushi Records
2009

buy

Melting Pot

Not On Label
2005

buy

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