Dann Zinn leads this world class band featuring pop and jazz icons Rachel Z and Omar Hakim. Join them for the premiere of all new original songs which will be featured on their upcoming recording. The music is filled with memorable melodies, interesting textures, and deep grooves. Please join us for a night you won't forget!
“Dann Zinn is a game changer, who is taking jazz in new directions.” As a world-class saxophonist/flutist, Zinn is renowned for being a passionate soloist and composer/arranger. Hailed over the years as “inventive,” “distinctive,” and for “creating a stunning and emotional listening experience,” Zinn has developed a unique style distinguishing him as a one of a kind artist with a tone unlike any other horn player on the jazz scene today.
Zinn’s resume includes working with Peter Erskine, Taylor Eigsti, Terri Lynn Carrington, Allison Miller, Derrick Hodge, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Mary Wells, Martha and the Vandellas, and Barry Finnerty, among many others. Zinn has been featured on numerous CDs, and has produced five of his own; Ten Songs, Wish, Grace’s Song, Shangri La, which DownBeat Magazine gave a Four Star review and listed as one of the best albums of 2015. His newest cd, Day Of Reckoning, 2019 on Origin Records, has received rave reviews internationally. Zinn has toured in the US and around the world, and played on distinguished stages including a Top Ten, Must See at the 2015 Monterey Jazz Festival with Peter Erskine, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, and Yoshi’s Night Spot, where he has played to sold-out crowds. He has been a guest artist for numerous college and high school festivals around the country.
As an educator, Zinn is currently Director of Jazz Studies at the California State University East Bay, Director of the award winning San Francisco Jazz Festival High School All Star Combo, faculty of the The California Jazz Conservatory, and University of California at Berkeley. Zinn’s private studio is home to multiple winners of full scholarships to the nation’s top Jazz College programs, all-star bands and DownBeat award winners. Zinn and the Art of Saxophone is his critically acclaimed published series of six technique books based on Zinn’s 30 years of teaching experience. It is endorsed by such luminaries as Joshua Redman, Miguel Zenon, Bob Mintzer, and Walter Smith III. Also just released is Dann Zinn’s Big Band Series, with his originals arranged by Nick DePinna. Dann Zinn is a D’Addario Artist.
Omar Hakim is a fusion drummer and session man extraordinaire whose talents have graced a tremendous variety of big name recordings in the jazz, pop, and R&B fields dating back to the early '80s. Born in New York City in 1959, Hakim began playing drums at age five, and by age ten was performing with his father, swing trombonist Hasan Hakim (Duke Ellington, Count Basie); he also performed with boyhood friend and future fusion star Marcus Miller. Hakim landed his first big break in 1980 when he joined Carly Simon's backing band; soon after, he became the drummer for Weather Report in time for 1982's Record, and he also landed a gig playing on David Bowie's return to the American pop charts, Let's Dance. He remained with Weather Report until the group's breakup in 1985, and his high-profile engagements helped land him work on Sting's The Dream of the Blue Turtles and Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, among others.
By this time, Hakim was teaching himself to program drum machines, which put him in even greater demand as a pop, rock, and R&B session musician, and landed him work with Madonna. Meanwhile, he continued his work as a jazz fusion drummer; just a partial list of his credits over the '80s and '90s includes work with Miles Davis, David Sanborn, Roy Ayers, George Benson, Joe Sample, John Scofield, Lee Ritenour, and Najee. In 1989, Hakim released his first solo album, Rhythm Deep, which occupied a middle ground between jazz, R&B, and pop, and gave him a chance to showcase his vocal abilities as well. The results earned Hakim a Grammy nomination.
During the '90s, Hakim continued to improve his skills in the realm of electronic percussion, keeping abreast of new technologies and thereby keeping his session career in good stead. He performed on albums by Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Jewel, among other big time pop stars, and initially kept his jazz work going as well, though it had tapered off by the middle of the decade. In 2000, Hakim released his second solo album, The Groovesmith, which took a musical approach similar to his first effort and was produced on his own Macintosh ProTools system.
Rachel Z's connection to saxophone great Wayne Shorter grew from major influence to full-blown collaborator over the two years she worked on his hit comeback album High Life, for which she built a synthesized orchestral framework to crystallize his musical vision. Rachel Z also played acoustic piano on the album and was musical director for the tour that followed. The CD won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. 1996 also saw the release of her NYC Records debut A Room of One’s Own, which she dedicated to the many women artists who have played an influential role in her life. Two years later Rachel released an album on GRP, Love is the Power, an album that featured hip-hop grooves with melodic piano flourishes and poems about the search for eternal love and wisdom through music.
Jeff Denson has balanced a full career as both an acclaimed performing musician and a highly respected educator. Jeff has released 16 albums as a leader or co-leader and has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe with both his own groups, worked with some of jazz’s finest artists such as Brian Blade, Jane Ira Bloom, Dave Douglas, Charles McPherson, Cuong Vu, Joe Lovano, Ralph Alessi, Walter Smith III, Dayna Stephens, Vadim Neselovskyi, Florian Weber, Warren Wolf, Romain Pilon, Edward Simon, Dan Weiss, Paul Hanson among others, and had an ongoing relationship with the legendary Lee Konitz since 2007.
Jeff has received rave reviews in such periodicals as the Washington Post, NY Times, SF Chronicle, and Downbeat Magazine. He has received such prizes as the German Cultural Award in 2006 and Downbeat Magazine Rising Star Critic's Poll awards for "Electric Bassist," "Male Vocalist" and "Double Bassist" the last four years in a row (2018-2021). Jeff won the Downbeat Rising Star Critic's Poll for Electric Bassist this year, 2021. Jeff also has the unique distinction of being the bassist of the Lee Konitz New Quartet for over twelve years and is currently the Dean of Instruction and Chair of the Bass Department of the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, CA.
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