Zoe Rahman

British Jazz Pianist and Composer

Zoe Rahman (b. 1971) is an English jazz composer and pianist, sister of clarinetist/saxophonist Idris Rahman. Born in Chichester, West Sussex to a Bengali father and an English-Irish mother, she studied classical piano at the Royal Academy of Music, and earned a degree from St Hugh's College at the University of Oxford. Zoe Rahman continued her music education abroad, and took lessons with Joanne Brackeen after winning a scholarship to study jazz performance at Berklee College Of Music in Boston, USA. Rahman released six albums, including a collaboration with Czech-American bassist George Mraz and his producer Paul Vlček, and two London concerts – trio with Gene Calderazzo and Oli Hayhurst at Pizza Express in April 2007, and a performance with Larry Stabbins/Stonephace at Fish Factory Willesden in Sept 2011. In 2006, her second album Melting Pot was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize Album of the Year, and also won the Jazz Album of the Year at Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Zoe's fifth album, Kindred Spirits, won the Best Jazz Act award at the 2012 MOBO Awards.