Performing in Ogunquit for the first time ever, Zahili Zamora and her Afro Cuban Jazz Trio promise a unique and unparalleled jazz experience. Ms Zamora and her Trio have headlined such venues as the landmark Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Celebrity Series of Boston, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and many more.
Her awards include: the Duke Ellington Award, the Wayne Shorter Award, the 40th Annual DownBeat music Award in the Outstanding Performance Category, Finalist at the DC Jazz Prix Competition, and with her Trio MIXCLA, a two time nominee for the Boston Music Awards in the Jazz Group category.
A pianist, composer, bandleader, arranger and educator, Ms Zamora started playing piano at the age of six, in her birthplace of Manzanillo, Cuba, where she graduated from the National School of Music, as a classical pianist, with a performance diploma. Emigrating to Canada, she explored a wide range of musical genres such as traditional Ecuadorian, French, and South African, and then to Asia for 6 years, where she even performed with a pop band.
Discovering Jazz, she returned to school in the U.S. to study at the Berklee College of Music, immersing herself in the study and analysis of jazz performance and composition, and falling in love with the process of creating. She graduated summa cum laude with a dual MM degree in Jazz Composition and Jazz Piano Performance. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Piano Department.
This rich musical background, career experience and extraordinary improvisation skills, render her a leader in the modern jazz idiom and an influential and emulated musician.
She describes the evolution of her artistic identity as a Latin Jazz pianist, singer, bandleader and composer, through reconnecting with her Cuban roots, and using elements of her rhythmic idiosyncrasy with American jazz, while adding and developing skills to encompass her artistry. She describes her music as representing multiculturalism and global unity in these times when there is so much division and oppression.
Tributes from musical colleagues and journalists include:
“…[Zahili] is amongst the most notable female pianists/composers in the field of Latin Jazz today, and her skills as an improviser are unmatched.” Oscar Stagnaro
“In addition to explorations of Habanera-steeped rhythms and textures and flourishes of American big band tradition, Zamora incorporates spacious and lovely melodies that soar beyond any descriptives.. Rick Koster, The Day
“A brilliant classically-trained improviser who is a master of polyrhythms, she is also a very appealing and versatile singer.” Scott Yannow, Jazz Journalist
Please join us to experience this enormous talent, in an Ogunquit premiere performance. It will blow your musical mind!
We are pleased to welcome our local friends and visitors back to the beautiful Barn Gallery, which has stepped up once again to offer an alternative venue during the repair, planned renovation and construction of our new municipal building and S. Judson Dunaway community center. Join us in this wonderful venue for a festive evening with Zahili and her Trio!
LISTEN TO ZAHILI: VIDEOS | Zahili Zamora