UMAR ZAKARIA QUARTET – Premiere

Kiwi bassist Umar Zakaria is a recent arrival in the Melbourne jazz scene. A student of legendary jazz bassists Cecil McBee, Lynn Seaton, and Paul Dyne, Umar won the first runner-up prize at the BASS2014 International Jazz Bass Competition and was one of three bassists selected worldwide to participate in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead programme for performer-composers at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He has since performed across Europe, Asia and the USA alongside Myele Manzanza, Norio Maeda, Snorre Kirk, Fabia Mantwill and Ben Wendel. In 2018 he was named Best Jazz Artist by Recorded Music New Zealand for his debut album, Fearless Music. Influenced by the musical traditions of his Singaporean Malay heritage, Umar’s innovative bass playing was featured on the ground-breaking album Gelombunk by Malay percussion virtuoso Riduan Zalani, and he was named the 2023 Jazz Composer-in-Residence at the New Zealand School of Music to continue his research on developing Malay-influenced jazz compositions. As a composer, his works have also been performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Royal New Zealand Ballet. His most ambitious work, Sun Song Suites, headlined the 2020 Wellington Jazz Festival over four concerts in the morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Since arriving in Melbourne in January 2024 Umar has performed in headline acts at the Nha Trang Jazz Festival in Vietnam and Tauranga Jazz Festival in New Zealand, presented his own music at the Wellington Jazz Festival in New Zealand and the Jazz in July Festival in Singapore, and released his second album, Family Music. Performing with Julien Wilson (tenor sax), Russell Tay (piano) and Dominic Stitt (drums), he will introduce some of his original music from his first two albums and preview some of the upcoming projects he has planned for Melbourne. He will perform 

Visit : https://umarzakaria.bandcamp.com/album/family-music