Rachel Z Live at J&R

On Midday Jazz with Rhonda Hamilton
Tuesday, May 15 at 12:30p.m.

Rachel Z

Jazz pianist Rachel Z is clearly something fresh in jazz. She has dedicated CDs to Joni Mitchell, has new jazz versions of songs by Death Cab for Cutie, The Church, The Yayas and so many more current groups. "She has this ability," says WBGO Music Director Gary Walker, "to turn all this music inside out and show that good music is good music, period."

In a recent interview with Walker, Z stated her musical mission, "To excite and spiritually please people who love jazz already with something fresh, but also to bring some attention to younger people who feel they could enjoy it, if they only knew the tune."

Death Rock or Jazz

Okay. But Death Cab for Cutie?

"I was introduced to it by a kid I happened to meet in a clothing store," says Rachel. "I said 'What are you listening to these days.' She said 'I like this band Death Cab for Cutie. Here check it out.' And she put the record on and I bought it right there in the store. I was like, wow what a beautiful song. [The band] is not as death rock or harsh as it sounds. It's a very sweet band actually. And [the song] harmonically has some nice motion."

Road Stories

Z's road stories illuminate just what she loves about turning people on to jazz. At one of her gigs in Louisville, Kentucky, a girl and her friends came up to her after she played a jazz version of "Maps" by the Yayas. She said, "I didn't understand when I was trying to learn All the Things You Are, what I'm was supposed to do with it." "But then she heard what we did with 'Maps' says Z "and then she could understand, oh I'm supposed to improvise on this melody of "All the Things You Are" which was a pop tune. So she really got it. And that's what we feel like our mission is."

Z has stories from the other end of the road telescope as well. "In Cambria, California this 85 year old lady came up to us and she said, 'You know I know a lot of jazz standards because I've been playing piano for years, but I don't know that standard, 'It's No Good' by Dee-peche Mode.' And we were shocked, 'cause she thought is was a jazz standard, which was the cutest thing ever. It was so beautiful. We had accomplished that mission and the room was filled with people mostly over 60 and they really enjoyed "Under the Milky Way" by The Church and they were fully into it."

Wayne Shorter to Peter Gabriel

Though Rachel has toured with a full range of great performers from Wayne Shorter to Peter Gabriel, her jazz trio has been tight and together for quite some time. Tune in to Jazz88 on May 15 to hear what musical surprises Rachel has for us as she dips into her new CD The Department of Good and Evil.

"The duality of good and evil is becoming more and more prevalent these days," says Z. "We are trying to unify at least the world we control, which is the jazz world. So our band is biracial, and we have men and women in it, and we're paying strict attention to the old jazz tradition but also trying to innovate with new jazz ideas; in the tradition of Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Elivn Jones."