Courtesy of Rachel Z






Tone Center

A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH RACHEL Z


I was sitting in my local waterhole, turned speakeasy because Rob Reiner and his Prop. 10 cohorts have made smoking a damn crime in California. But I digress. I was looking over my press packet on Rachel Z and the most observant guy next to me comments on how Rachel is a hottie. She must get that a lot, hottie first and then musician second, which is a shame because Rachel is a heck of a player. I will let you come to your own conclusions as I bring it to you, as always, unedited and in her own words.


FRED JUNG: Let's start from the beginning.

RACHEL Z: My mother was an opera singer and I began singing. I went to the New England Conservatory and graduated from New England and played in a band with George Garzone and then I moved to New York and I played with Steps Ahead and that is how I got started.


FJ: What does the "z" stand for?

RACHEL Z: Nicolazzo. Mike Maneri gave me the name because he said that the Nicolazzo shit would drive me crazy and that I would have to spell it on every interview. And he was sort of right (laughing). The "z" kind of made it easier.


FJ: Did you enjoy playing the piano?

RACHEL Z: When I was little, I did before I had a piano teacher. And then I had a piano teacher and he like used to hit me and so it became really abusive. He was really a horrible, a mean teacher. That happens to a lot of talented kids. They get mean teachers and then they get discouraged and a lot of child prodigies, that is why they end up going crazy or quitting. My teacher wasn't a very good teacher and so it affected my joy. Now, we are starting a wellness center for musicians and we're trying to teach the school how to teach people so the kids can become more empowered and more sane and so we don't have all this dysfunctional stuff with teachers.


FJ: Who is we?

RACHEL Z: My friend, who is a Ph.D. at NYU, her name is Dr. Louise Montello. She is starting a wellness center, not through NYU, but it will be a non-profit and we're going to have classes for musicians in New York City and eventually expand. But first, it will be having these programs for schools, for colleges, to teach teachers how to teach students to become empowered and more aware of their possibilities.


FJ: Is that kind of child empowerment missing right now?

RACHEL Z: Yeah, because the kids get too absorbed and a lot of us, Fred, are addicted to music as an escape, which could be good because music is a great healing force, but in terms of really mentoring people from where I am coming from. She is coming from music therapy. Her interest is to heal musicians through music and my interest is to help other musicians attain the careers that they want, which would be becoming more independent, more responsible, and more knowledgeable about the business and more spiritually in tune with their talent.


FJ: Did you find it challenging to attain your career because you are female?

RACHEL Z: No, because my mom and dad wouldn't let me get a day job, so I had no choice because they didn't give me money either and so I had to go out and first find a gig at the Marriott and then I hired the guys. I hired the best musicians that I could. The problem I had getting gigs was that no one would hire me because I was a girl. Girls sort of aren't allowed to be no good. You can't go through your terrible stages of growth and there is a little less forgiving because the guys get embarrassed having a lame girl in the band. It is like their macho thing, which I understand, but it affected my macho thing because I didn't want any girls that couldn't play in my band. I didn't want girls around me. I was very detached from the female community coming up. I was really into being one of the guys, which is I guess how I ended up playing fusion (laughing), a sort of macho music.


FJ: Fusion, do you like the word?

RACHEL Z: I don't care.


FJ: Why fusion? Why didn't you play bebop or a variation there of?

RACHEL Z: Yeah, when I went to college, my thing was Joanne Brackeen tunes and Herbie (Herbie Hancock) from Miles Smiles and the "Brain" with Chick Corea and I studied with Richie Beirach when I graduated. So that was one of my big loves, that kind of modern jazz, but then Wynton came into Columbia Records and he was dictating this really old style jazz, which I could not stand. I actually hated it a lot, so during that time, I was like, "What am I going to do?" So I learned multi-keyboards and then when I came to New York, I was able to get the Steps gig because a big lack in the musical community was keyboard players who could play synth and play real jazz piano and also program the synth. I kind of got all that stuff together so I could basically make money, because again, I was always going by this premise my parents had of "you can't get a day job." I was always panicked to tell you the truth, Fred.


FJ: You still panic?

RACHEL Z: Yeah, I'm scared (laughing). We all are.


FJ: Do you worry that playing fusion will stigmatize you in the eyes of traditionalists?

RACHEL Z: You know, Fred, I didn't even think about it because I didn't notice. I loved Steely Dan coming up too, so I had this rock side. I'm into the music itself and really, I don't think about business and I didn't at all. I didn't even know about the business. As a pianist, you practice eight to twelve hours a day, so most of the time, I really didn't know what anyone was thinking about me and it never occurred to me to manipulate what they were thinking about me. I was just thinking about the chords. I am into the chords for some reason and then melody and then rhythm. So for me, fusion was cool because it had great harmony. Actually, the funny thing was Steps Ahead on the road, after the first year, Mike Maneri stopped bringing a multi-keyboard rig on the road. I mostly ended up playing acoustic piano. I was mostly just playing piano and so I was trying, with that band to work on Herbie Hancock stuff and Miles and Wayne and trying to get the band to play like "Brain," Chick Corea. So that is what really was in my head, even though it was in a band that was so called titled, a fusion band. And then when I played with Al (Al DiMeola), that was a multi-keyboard gig and that had a different energy. That was more macho, but Al has his own thing, which I respect.


FJ: Let's touch on your association with Wayne Shorter.

RACHEL Z: I worked with him a total of three years.


FJ: Were you intimidated?

RACHEL Z: No, I pretty much got into jazz to be the next Herbie Hancock. I was that arrogant (laughing).


FJ: The moxie.

RACHEL Z: Oh, yeah. I had to. Otherwise, you don't survive. Why practice twelve hours a day? I was really, sincerely way into it because my first record that I loved was Miles Smiles. My dad had that one with "Diane," Workin' or Steamin'.


FJ: Steamin'

RACHEL Z: Right, which of course wasn't on. Trane was. I was so heavily into the Miles tradition from being just a kid that all I wanted was to talk to Wayne about all that music and so I didn't have anything in mind other than finding out about the music. Plus, Wayne is such a spiritual person and a great leader as a person that he was really helpful to me and helped me grow up in a lot of ways. He got me out of the ego state of I am going to do the gig. I had to grow out of that kind of arrogant attitude, which I had to have in order to survive as a woman. I had to believe somehow that I was the best, in order to even get anywhere and then I had to undo all of that arrogant stuff in order to be humble to receive real information from the heart. A lot of us players goes through playing too many notes, too fast, and not knowing why we are playing them. Wayne would have all these complex harmonies and he would go from one chord to the other and say, "What do you think?" To me, it was a barrage of incredible Wayne Shorter harmonies. I couldn't even make a decision because it was too incredible. But then, eventually I learned because he would say, "Check out the feeling or the direction of these chords. Is it a feeling of happiness? Or is it a feeling of pulling back?" Really a lot of complex feelings would go into the chords and so I learned to connect to complex harmony and that jazz was more about the feeling and the swing and the heart, everything other than having the ego and having the best chops and getting the best gigs. It was great because when I was in Steps, I was so young that Mike was pushing me to achieve and to get my shit together, get my chops together, get my time together, and to learn how to perform. With Steps, it was the first time I played in a big festival on a big stage with monitors and things. I didn't know what a monitor was and so I was scared all the time and he taught me how to overcome in a macho way, a macho world. When I got with Wayne, he showed me how to connect emotionally to all the things I had learned with Mike.


FJ: So you came full circle.

RACHEL Z: Yeah, because don't forget, New England Conservatory is really competitive. Those schools churn out like a bunch of machines. It was like everyone was competing. It was pretty hardcore.


FJ: But New York is just as competitive.

RACHEL Z: But now, I don't notice it. I'm not competing with my music at all. I finally got to a trio and I really love them as people and I have been with them a long time, like five years and I trust them musically and we're all trying to learn and do the same thing together.


FJ: Girl power.

RACHEL Z: Yeah, and that came full circle too. I love them. It is really incredible because I have known them since they were kind of young, like twenty-one and they are just really growing so fast. It is really Ron Carter, Tony, and Herbie, the way they functioned as a rhythm section. It just feels really good.


FJ: What was it like working on the Vertu project with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White?

RACHEL Z: I came in later and they had quite a bit of things together. I loved playing with Lenny White. We had some great moments with Stanley and my favorite was trying to do the trio jazz stuff. I really liked that. Then I really liked the part with Stanley and his classical composition ideas. I found that programming for them was really challenging. It was the kind of record I would rather have sequenced because I could have worked on the sounds better, but they wanted me to be able to play all that stuff live and so I really had to have it together. It was really hard.


FJ: Let's talk about the soon to be released, On the Milkyway Express, a tribute to the music of Wayne Shorter.

RACHEL Z: We did it April 1 and 2. We rehearsed for a long time, like three months because there are no gigs to play that much music on and we wanted to get it together before we went into the studio. We rehearsed like four times a week because we wanted to get a chemistry happening, to get arrangements for the Wayne Shorter music. We felt it important to sound the best we could because it was in honor, a tribute to Wayne. I am really happy about it.


FJ: Has Wayne heard the record?

RACHEL Z: Yup, he really liked it. He was pretty happy.


FJ: In this case, he is the only critic that matters.

RACHEL Z: He is all I care about (laughing). I always found the better musicians to understand what I am doing anyway.


FJ: How old are you?

RACHEL Z: I'm twenty-seven.


FJ: Are you single?

RACHEL Z: Yeah, I was married.


FJ: How do you like being single?

RACHEL Z: I don't like it. I'm going to change it as soon as possible.


FJ: What is the downside about being single?

RACHEL Z: Well, I am an only child and so I hate being alone. I think the worse part is not having someone to bring the tour money to. I should be sending it to my stockbroker. That is who I have been sending it to (laughing). That is why we really need this record to happen, so I can stay home more and have a baby.


FJ: Biological clock is ticking.

RACHEL Z: Yeah, I want to go on tour with the baby in a backpack (laughing). It would be fun and hopefully, she will learn to play some kind of percussion. She could join us.


FJ: Sponsors would be beating down the door.

RACHEL Z: Right, Gerbers (laughing).


FJ: I don't want to break precedent. How do you spell Nicolazzo?

RACHEL Z: N-I-C-O-L-A-Z-Z-O (laughing).


Fred Jung is Jazz Weekly's Editor-In-Chief and Fire Starter. Comments?  Email Fred.