Rez Abbasi

Rez Abbasi (* 27. August 1965 in Karachi , Pakistan ) is an American fusion - and jazz - guitarist , music producer and composer .

Live and act

Abbasi, who came to the United States with his parents as a toddler, grew up in Los Angeles ; Jim Hall , Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell successively formed his influences. He studied jazz and classical music at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music , then went to India to be taught by the percussionist Alla Rakha .

In 1987 he moved to New York City , where he has been working ever since. In 1991 a first album was released, on which u. a. Bob Mintzer , Kenny Werner , Gary Thomas , Peter Erskine , Marc Copland and Michael Formanek contributed. Since then he has played in the fusion genre as well as post-bop , hard bop and jazz standards . Abbasi has also been active as a music teacher and composer since the mid-1990s. He is also the musical director and producer for the singer Kiran Ahluwalia, on whose album “Wanderlust” (2008) he participated.

In his 2005 album Snake Charmer , on which the Indian vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia participated, he combined jazz and Indian music in his compositions. He is currently working with his Rez Abbasi's Acoustic Quartet (RAAQ), which includes vibraphonist Bill Ware , bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Eric McPherson . Down Beat magazine chose his album Things to Come , recorded for Sunnyside with Vijay Iyer , Rudresh Mahanthappa , Kiran Ahluwalia, Johannes Weidenmüller and Dan Weiss as one of the best albums of the decade. It was also awarded the Chamber Music America Prize.

Discographic notes

Third Ear (String Jazz, 1991)
Modern Memory (String Jazz, 1996) with Tim Hagans
Out of Body (String Jazz, 2002) with Ron Horton
Snake Charmer (Arabesque / Earth Sounds, 2003) with Dave Liebman
Things to Come (2009)
RezAbbasi's Invocation, Suno Sono (2011)
RezAbbasi Trio, Continuous Beat (2013) with John Hébert and Satoshi Takeishi
Unfiltered Universe (2017) with Rudresh Mahanthappa , Vijay Iyer , Johannes Weidenmüller , Dan Weiss , Elizabeth Mikhael
A Throw of Dice (2019), with Pawan Benjamin, Jennifer Vincent, Rohan Khrishnamurthy, Jake Goldbas
Django-shift (2020), with Neil Alexander , Michael Sarin

swell

Bielefeld catalog 1988 & 2002
Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Abbasi, rez
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH	August 27, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH	Karachi