Zoe Rahman

Born on 20 January 1971 in Chichester, Sussex, England, Zoe Rahman began classical piano studies at age four. She attended the Royal Academy of Music as a Junior Exhibitioner between 1982 and 1989, then read music at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford, completing her degree in 1992. While a student she explored jazz through performances with several ensembles. Her stated keyboard inspirations encompass Alice Coltrane, Chick Corea, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Abdullah Ibrahim, Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk, Phineas Newborn Jr., Horace Silver and McCoy Tyner. Further training took her to Berklee College of Music in 1998, where JoAnne Brackeen and Ray Santisi were among her instructors.

In Boston she directed a trio that featured bassist Josh Davis and drummer Bob Moses. She subsequently assembled a quintet that included her brother, saxophonist Idris Rahman. From the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s she worked in piano-bass-drums configurations alongside bassists Robin Mullarkey, Jeremy Brown, Orlando LeFleming and Oli Hayhurst, and drummers Daniel Crosby, Winston Clifford, Darren Abraham and Gene Calderazzo. Julian Joseph, another acknowledged influence, showcased her on a 1998 television programme. The following year she received the Perrier Young Jazz Musician of the Year award. Additional honours include a 2001 BBC Jazz Awards Rising Star nomination and the 2006 Parliamentary Jazz Album of the Year prize for her second solo album, Melting Pot, which also earned a Nationwide Mercury Prize nomination.

Rahman joined Clark Tracey’s Quintet in 2000 and contributed to the group’s 2005 recording The Mighty Sas. Additional collaborators, both live and on record, have included Tony Bianco, Gary Boyle, Jacqui Dankworth, Carol Decker, Roland Gift, Mekaal Hasan, Patric Illingworth, Keziah Jones, Reem Kelani, Netsayi, Roland Sutherland and Steve Williamson. Early-2000s touring encompassed numerous British dates as well as engagements in South America. In 2005 she supplied the score for the stage work I’m A Fool To Want You. An inventive and fluent improviser, Rahman stands as a commanding figure in contemporary jazz.