British-Jamaican jazz-soul singer ‘excited’ for local debut at F&B Downtown
Published:Friday | February 23, 2024 | 12:21 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
Jazz vocalist, Zara McFarlane, names American jazz singer and pianist Sara Vaughan as one of her main inspirations, and she will pay tribute to her this evening at Herbie Miller’s Downtown Jazz at the F&B Restaurant, which is located at 107 Church Street, corner of Harbour Street.
This will be her first full set performance in Jamaica, and McFarlane, who was born in Britain to Jamaican parents, is “excited”.
Part of that thrill comes from rehearsing with a band of musicians she’s meeting for the first time and McFarlane had nothing but kudos for the Orville Hammond trio which features the Hammond himself on piano, Leon Duncan on upright and electric bass, Cliff Bond on drums and tenor saxophonist Oshane Love.
“Rehearsals have been going really well ... it’s always good to meet new people ... musicians ... so I am excited. I am looking forward to it,” McFarlane said.
“We are anticipating another evening of great music,” Miller, the conceptualiser of the showcase, said.
The London-based McFarlane, who has so far released four albums, will be showcasing her own original songs as well as selections from Sara ‘The Divine One’ Vaughan who would have turned 100 this year. She shared that when jazz entered her life, “although Nina is one of my favourites”, it was Vaughan with whom she connected vocally.
“Sara has these playful scoops and she’s always very much telling stories with her voice. Ella Fitzgerald has that perfect voice but Sara has that emotional element to her voice that is technical as well,” she explained.
A multi-award winning singer and songwriter, McFarlane is described as “the UK’s Black British foremost jazz vocalist” whose “sound is distinguished by her melding of multiple influences from jazz, reggae, folk and neo-soul”.
She shared some insights into this genre-bending which has seen her release her debut album, Until Tomorrow, by Brownswood Recordings in 2011, and also songs such as a cover of veteran roots, reggae group The Congos’ 1977 classic, Fisherman, as well as Junior Murvin’s Police and Thieves.
“My first two albums are jazz and the third album [ Arise, released in 2017] has a mix of reggae and jazz. I played with a band ... Jazz Jamaica, a British band that fuses reggae, ska and mixes up different ideas with jazz and reggae. So, on my third album it was natural to take that path musically,” McFarlane explained, adding that she has visited Jamaica to explore the island’s rich musical heritage.
“I did research on kumina, dinki mini ... met with those persons who were knowledgeable about the folk rhythms and I have been inspired by the rhythms of early Jamaica,” McFarlane, who started writing songs at age 11, said.
A full time musician, with the support of her parents – who are not musical at all – she got involved in competitions that would eventually lead her to distinction in her field. She studied musical theatre at the BRIT School, then went on to the London College of Music to study Popular Music Performance and completed a master’s degree in jazz studies (vocals) at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
McFarlane was awarded Jazz FM Vocalist of the Year in 2015 and again in 2018; Session of the Year at Worldwide Awards in 2018; Best Jazz Act at Urban Music Awards in 2015 and Best Jazz Act at the MOBO Awards.
Her last album, the critically acclaimed Songs of an Unknown Tongue, was released in 2020.