CULTURE CLUB
All That Jazz CAMBRIDGE JAZZ FESTIVAL IS SOON TO RETURN, WITH OODLES OF GROOVES, RHYTHMS AND TUNES TO KEEP YOU CAPTIVATED – MIRIAM BALANESCU MEETS THE FESTIVAL’S FIRST ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE, ZARA MCFARLANE ON THE SCENE
azz is a genre defined by a resistance to rules, its key features including syncopation (boldly veering away from ordinary rhythms), rebellious distortions of
pitch and timbre and fluid improvisation – meaning no two performances of one song are ever quite the same. For Zara McFarlane, this year’s Cambridge Jazz Festival artist-in-residence (and the first ever), the improvisational element is what makes the genre so special – and the festival so valuable as a platform. “Because jazz is such a live music art form, having those spaces is really important,” she states. After attending the Brit School, Zara studied vocals at Guildhall. “I ended up performing some gigs with one of my teachers because he said my voice lends quite well to jazz,” Zara recalls. “The reason jazz ended up being something that made sense to me was because I’d studied musical theatre. When I started learning about jazz, I was familiar with a lot of the repertoire because loads of the standards come from musicals.” The Mobo award-winner – invited to jam on Later… with Jools Holland in 2014 and featuring on radio stations worldwide – consciously shaped herself as a jazz artist to start with, despite growing up on a diet of reggae. “Some of my songs didn’t start out as jazz songs,” Zara says. “But I knew I wanted to have a jazz aesthetic.” As time went on, Zara’s sound evolved. Her second album, 2014’s If You Knew Her ,
NOTE PERFECT
Zara McFarlane (above) has two performances at this year’s festival
black people’s experiences, women’s experiences, a lot of that becomes what people will call political.” Zara’s residency encompasses two concerts at this year’s jazz festival, on 20 and 26 November, showing different shades of her performing. In the first, she will be accompanied by the Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra, in the other by stripped- back piano. “I’ve worked with an orchestra a few times now, but it’s a very special thing to do,” she says. “It’s not something that comes up too often.” On her duo, Zara enthuses: “It’s a really exciting challenge. I’ve only ever done one gig which is just voice and piano for my music.” This year’s festival will be opened by The Brass Funkeys, the London-based eight-piece with New Orleans roots. Headliners Lydian Collective and Jasper Høiby’s Planet B will follow suit, with Julie Campiche, Ashley Henry, Tim Garland, Jason Rebello and Courtney Pine in tow. The main headliner, Omar, will join forces with masterful instrumentalists QCBA. “Jazz as a genre is so vast; there are so many variations,” Zara says. “Festivals like this are a really nice space to make new connections – where lots of people have a history with and understanding of the great jazz musicians.” Cambridge Jazz Festival will take place at different venues across the city from 10-27 November.
© TREVOR LEE PHOTOGRAPHY
celebration of life when someone dies, as opposed to a sad, depressing situation.” Zara merely took this approach further for her 2020 album Songs of an Unknown Tongue . “I’d done a lot more research into early Jamaican folk rhythms by that point.
“was more celebrating the black women in my family – there’s a lot of them,” Zara laughs. “I leaned toward the jazz style, but because I grew up in a Jamaican household, I’ve always loved Caribbean music. It was a very natural thing to start bringing in those sounds.”
I really wanted it to be an exploration of voice and rhythm.” As well as the influence of Caribbean musical traditions, the politics of the past decade have also bled into her work. “It’s not really that I would call myself a
I’d researched early Jamaican folk rhythms
political writer,” Zara reflects. “But, as a black person, the issues that I face people would call political. I don’t describe myself as someone who’s an activist, but when I start talking about my life, my experiences,
Among the inspirations she draws on in Arise – her third album – is a Jamaican folk style called Kumina, often used at funerals. “In the Caribbean, it tends to be a
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