Zara McFarlane

Zara McFarlane is a jazz singer and composer whose work is often inspired by soul, reggae and other Caribbean rhythms.  She sings in a textured and slightly husky voice that may be somewhat reminiscent of Dianne Reeves. Her initial recordings leaned more towards classic jazz forms, and stayed on the post-bop side. Her forward push came in 2017 with Arise where she began to explore her Jamaican heritage. She continued to evolve stylistically, as she adopted contemporary production techniques while working with producers Wu-Lu and Kwake Bass on 2020's Songs of an Unknown Tongue. That was when she also dug deeper into the West African roots of the Afro-Caribbean traditions and incorporated them into her music as another layer. She has collaborated frequently with some of London's top names in jazz over the years.