Z, Rachel

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Rachel Z

Keyboardist

After years of determination and hard work, keyboardist Rachel Z is widely recognized for her skill as a jazz musician, playing both classical and contemporary jazz with crossovers into hip-hop and rock. While best known for her work on both electric and acoustic keyboards, she also plays the synthesizer, clarinet, oboe, and the flute.

Rachel Z was born Rachel Carmel Nicolazzo on December 28, 1962, in New York City. Her mother was an opera singer and her father was an artist who also played piano. Z began singing lessons at age two and piano lessons at age seven. While growing up in Manhattan, her family made weekly trips to see performances at the Metropolitan Opera, sometimes seeing two or three operas in a week. “My first dollhouse was a Metropolitan Opera House, complete with the stage and dolls which were the performers,” she recalled in a Bone Magazine article reprinted on the Smooth Jazz website.

As a child, Z’s natural musical ability led her to improvise, earning her a smack on the wrist from her piano teacher when she began to do so with a Mozart concerti. In 1979 she attended a summer session at the Manhattan School of Music, where she heard the music of Wayne Shorter on the Miles Davis album Miles Smiles. She was captivated by the music. She told Don Henke of the Dayton Daily News that “it had a mystery and sadness that spoke to my lonely and confused heart.” She decided to begin studying jazz.

After completing high school, she went on to attend the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 1980. She graduated in 1984 with a “distinction in performance” award. She remained in Boston, working with various artists, including Dave Hann, Bill Banfield, Thania Sanchez, and Bob Moses. She also led her own trio, featuring George Garzone.

Returning to New York City in September of 1988, she began to build her career. In February of 1989 she began touring with saxophonist Najee, with whom she had studied at the New England Conservatory. Together they wrote the music for the title track on the Tokyo Blue album. After several months, she joined the group Steps Ahead led by vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. It was at this point that she changed her name to Rachel Z, as Mainieri felt that Nicolazzo was too difficult for people to remember and spell. Their working relationship was a productive one, and they both recorded and performed steadily. Mainieri produced her debut album on Columbia Records, Trust the Universe, in 1991. During this time, she also worked with other artists, including Al Di Meola and Special EFX.

In 1995, Z began to collaborate with Wayne Shorter, whose music had originally drawn her to jazz. She worked extensively with him to build a synthesized orchestral framework for his High Life album. “Wayne had it all in his head,” she told the All About Jazz website. “I helped him build a computer system to simulate the orchestra and get what he wanted to hear. I had a synth orchestra—flutes, oboes, clarinets. I’d play each line in separately to the computer. We’d listen back and change things or add ‘synthie’ sounds. We took the finished synth orchestrations to the studio and had piano, bass, and drums play over them. After that we replaced the synth orchestra with a wind orchestra. Finally Wayne over dubbed his saxophone solos over everything.”

They took the music on tour, but after some negative media coverage, Shorter canceled the remainder of their performances. As the group dissolved, Shorter gave Z some valuable advice, reported the Dayton Daily News: “Play your own music and develop a stand-alone spirit so you can become a master.” Ironically, Shorter’s High Life album went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 1996.

Working with Shorter helped Z develop a greater creative process. She told Steve Graybow of Billboard, “I learned how he thought and felt when he was writing, and how that fit into the music. I saw how he chose one chord over another. I saw the connection between the intellect and the emotion.”

When Z released A Room of One’s Own in 1996, it was hailed by Dan Ouellette of Down Beat. “Pianist/ composer/arranger Rachel Z makes all the right moves on her NYC Records debut, a thoughtfully conceived, brilliantly executed and profoundly heartfelt project that

For the Record…

Born Rachel Carmel Nicolazzo on December 28, 1962, in New York, NY; married Ron Hellman, later divorced. Education: Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music with “distinction in performance” honors, 1984.

After graduating from college, worked professionally in the Boston area until 1988, when she returned to New York City to tour with saxophonist Najee; joined Steps Ahead while also recording on her own and with Al DiMeola, Wayne Shorter, Pino Daniele, and the group Vertu with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, 1989; founded the Rachel Z Trio, 1996; also performs with rock group Peacebox.

Addresses: Agent —Brad Simon Organization Inc., 122 E. 57th St., New York, NY 10022, phone: (212) 980-5920. Website—Rachel Z Official Website: http://www.rachelz.com.

pays homage to 10 triumphant women artists who have inspired her.” The album pays tribute to singers Billie Holiday and Joni Mitchell, dancer/choreographer Judith Jamison, and writers Zora Neale Hurston and Murasaki Shikibu.

Shortly after the album’s release, she formed the Rachel Z Trio, a group that began by playing the music of Wayne Shorter in New York City clubs. She also recorded Love is the Power for GRP, adding in some hip-hop in an attempt to reach a wider audience. “We basically made a career decision that straight-ahead jazz was just too limiting for me,” she told George Kanzler in the Star-Ledger, “And the way jazz is divided today into smooth and straight-ahead is really difficult for me because I like really creative music, like I did collaborating with Wayne Shorter and on my last album, Room of One’s Own. But that music doesn’t fit into any category, so no record company really wants to pay for it. Now we’re trying to have success careerwise so I can reach a broader audience.” Z dedicated Love is the Power to her mother, but unfortunately, the album did not sell well and received very little radio play. Z released Moon at the Window in October of 2002.

As she was touring for Love is the Power, she also joined a new band called Vertύ, led by Lenny White and Stanley Clarke, which had a successful European tour. She also began expanding tours with the Rachel Z Trio; in 2000 the group released On the Milky Way Express, a straight-ahead jazz album showcasing Wayne Shorter compositions. Geoffrey Himes of the Washington Post stated, “By presenting these pieces without a horn player, Z makes the point that their power stems not from Shorter’s remarkable playing but from his ingenious use of chord changes and voicings.”

Jazziz magazine featured Z on their cover in February of 1999, an issue in which she wrote a personal commentary of her transitions through music, and the struggles between the business end of music and what is in her heart, subtitled “True Confessions of a Girl Gone Smooth.”

Happily, her hard work and determination finally began to pay and her music eventually gained recognition. John Fordham wrote in the Guardian, “Z herself is a devastating performer, with the sweeping capacity for shapeliness and storytelling in a solo that characterizes the very best jazz improvisers.” She also branched out into rock music, starting a band called Peacebox that features her compositions. “It’s about creating peace and happiness for humanity,” she explained in All About Jazz.