Zoe Rahman - Hull Suite Live

"Hull Suite Live" features Zoe’s world-class trio, with drummer Gene Calderazzo (Pharoah Sanders, Randy Brecker) and bassist Alec Dankworth (Abdullah Ibrahim, Dave Brubeck). These longstanding collaborators display an electrifying synergy with Zoe on piano. The music encompasses a wide pallet, with earthy blues influences, soulful melodies and cinematic musical textures, The album was recorded live at The Vortex Jazz Club in London, capturing the true essence of Zoe and her band’s live performance – a special moment forever encapsulated on this recording.

Commissioned by Hull Jazz Festival for World Piano Day in 2024, "Hull Suite" is based on themes of voyage, migration and family, taking inspiration from two statues in Hull: One which commemorates the 2.2 million people who passed through Hull as a port city between 1836 and 1914, and the other which looks out across the Humber to the sea and has a twin sculpture looking back towards it from Iceland, commemorating fishermen, seafarers and trade shared between the two countries.

The music is also about Zoe’s parents' story of migration, sea crossings and a piano – as Zoe explains: “When I was writing the music, the themes reminded me of my parents' story of migration….My mother emigrated from England to New Zealand when she was 10, travelling for 6 weeks by ship. She later met my father when they were both at Sydney University - he had travelled by ship from Bengal. I found out only recently that after going back to visit his family in Dhaka, my father needed proof that he had the financial means to support his return to Sydney, so my mother sold her piano so that they could be together. While composing, I was thinking about how my own existence is strongly linked to sea travel and to the story of a piano!”

Zoe Rahman’s instrumental interpretations of these topics are presented with poignancy and sensitivity, overarched with what Jazzwise Magazine have described as Zoe’s “full-blooded, chord splashing, orchestral approach to the acoustic piano.”

Zoe Rahman’s music has always been truly original. Hull Suite is a work that channels Zoe Rahman’s exuberant spirit, fortified by her exemplary band and ultimately creating an outstanding listening experience for anyone who appreciates true artistry in its purest form.