| Rachel Z or Rachel Z Hakim | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Name: | Rachel Nicolazzo |
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Genre: | Jazz, jazz fusion, alternative rock, rock |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Instrument: | Keyboards |
| Years Active: | 1988–present |
| Label: | Columbia, GRP, NYC, Savoy, Tone Center, Chesky |
| Associated Acts: | Peter Gabriel, Wayne Shorter, Steps Ahead, Vertú, OZMoSYS, The OZexperience, The Trio of OZ, Wayne Escofferey, Terri Lyne Carrington, Al di Meola |
Rachel Carmel Hakim (née Nicolazzo), better known as Rachel Z, is a jazz and rock pianist and keyboardist. She has recorded 13 albums as a leader and jazz musician. Her musical style, especially her improvisation, has been described as adjacent to Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner.[1]
In 1999, Hakim was a part of a jazz fusion project by Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. The project, entitled Vertú, also featured such artists as Karen Briggs on violin and Richie Kotzen on guitar and resulted in an album of the same name that year. She experimented with her own rock group Peacebox as a vocalist. During this time, she was also working with the Neapolitan pop musician Pino Daniele, with whom she first began working in 1996 and toured with until his death in 2015. She toured with Peter Gabriel during his Growing Up tours from 2002 to 2006, which gave Rachel the opportunity to widen her fan base and work with bassist Tony Levin. Her project, entitled "Dept. of Good and Evil", on Savoy received positive reviews.[2] [3]
Hakim and her husband Omar Hakim formed the OZExperience, now "Ozmosys" (Omar and Rachel Z), and in 2019, the new group recorded an EP Eyes to the Future Vol.1 at Power Station. The five-track EP was released on November 4, 2019 with Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar and Linley Marthe on bass, with J. C. Maillard on additional guitar and voice. The band was hailed at the opening night of the 2019 London Jazz Festival in Jazzwise:
With Pino Daniele
With Al Di Meola
With Peter Gabriel
With others
With Peter Gabriel