View source for Rachel Z

{{short description|American jazz pianist}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{BLP sources|date=December 2022}}{{COI|date=February 2024}}
{{Notability|1=Biographies|date=February 2024}}
}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name                = Rachel Z or Rachel Z Hakim 
| image               = RachelZ.jpg
| image_size          =
| landscape           =
| background          = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name          = Rachel Nicolazzo
| birth_date          =
| birth_place         = New York City, U.S.
| genre               = [[Jazz]], [[jazz fusion]], [[alternative rock]], [[rock music|rock]]
| occupation          = Musician
| instrument          = Keyboards
| years_active        = 1988–present
| label               = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], [[GRP Records|GRP]], [[NYC Records Records|NYC]], [[SavoyJazz Records|Savoy]], [[Tone Center Records|Tone Center]], [[Chesky Records|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
| website             = {{URL|www.rachelz.com}}
}}

'''Rachel Carmel Hakim''' ([[née]] Nicolazzo), better known as '''Rachel Z''', is an American [[jazz]] and [[Rock music|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]].<ref>{{cite news |first=John |last=Fordham |author-link=John Fordham (jazz critic) |date=August 4, 2005 |title=Rachel Z, ''Grace'' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/aug/05/jazz.shopping1#maincontent |access-date=June 9, 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

== Career ==
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 (musician)|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 [[Growing Up Live|2002]] to [[Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dept-of-good-and-evil-rachel-z-savoy-jazz-review-by-john-kelman.php |title=Dept Of Good And Evil Feat. Rachel Z: Dept Of Good And Evil |first=John |last=Kelman |website=[[All About Jazz]] |date=March 20, 2007 |access-date=June 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/rachel-z-dept-of-good-and-evil-feat-rachel-z/ |title=Rachel Z : Dept. of Good and Evil feat. Rachel Z |website=[[JazzTimes]] |first=Thomas |last=Conrad |date=May 1, 2007 |access-date=June 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609062501/https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/rachel-z-dept-of-good-and-evil-feat-rachel-z/ |archive-date=June 9, 2020}}</ref>

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 (recording studio)|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]]:
{{blockquote|Is Ozmosys heralding or part of a new wave of jazz? Who can fairly say? But this quartet exudes a chemical energy which is invigorated by the jazz canon - without feeling shackled by it - to gaze ahead....Each player is at their unrestrained best. From the potentially explosive timbral variety of Hakim which feeds the thunderous rhythms and eternal dexterity of Marthe, to the harmonic sophistication and (at times) Metheny-esque melodies served up by Rachel Z and Rosenwinkel. The unit of Hakim/Marthe is the rhythmic driving force that tempers the conjuring of Z/Rosenwinkel: it preserves and strengthens the infectious nuggets of melodic and harmonic gold without compromising their complexity. Most fascinatingly of all, it is not just the audience who undergo an osmosis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzwise.com/write-stuff/article/ozmosys-southbank-centre-queen-elizabeth-hall-efg-london-jazz-festival |title=Ozmosys, Southbank Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall @ EFG London Jazz Festival |website=[[Jazzwise]] |first=James |last=Shufflebotham |date=November 28, 2019 |access-date=June 9, 2020}}</ref>}}

==Discography==
===As leader===
* ''Trust the Universe'' ([[Columbia Records|Columbia]], 1993)
* ''A Room of One's Own'' (NYC, 1996)
* ''Love Is the Power'' ([[GRP Records|GRP]], 1998)
* ''On the Milkyway Express'' ([[Tone Center Records|Tone Center]], 2000)
* ''Moon at the Window'' (Tone Center, 2002)
* ''First Time Ever I Saw Your Face'' ([[Venus Records|Venus]], 2003)
* ''Everlasting'' (Tone Center, 2004)
* ''Grace'' ([[Chesky Records|Chesky]], 2005)
* ''Mortal'' (ArtistShare, 2006) 
* ''Dept of Good and Evil'' ([[Savoy Records|Savoy]]/WEA, 2007)
* ''I Will Possess Your Heart'' (Pony Canyon, 2009)
* ''Sensual (feat. Omar Hakim)'' (Dot Time, 2024)

=== As a member ===
* [[Steps Ahead]], ''Yin Yang'' (NYC, 1990)
* Vertú, ''[[Vertú]]'' (Sony, 1999)
* The Trio of OZ, ''The Trio of OZ'' (OZmosis, 2010)
* The [[Omar Hakim]] Experience, ''We are One'' (OZmosis, 2014)
* OZmosys, ''Eyes To The Future, Vol. 1'' EP (OZmosis, 2019)

===As guest===
'''With [[Pino Daniele]]'''
* ''Medina''  (Sony, 2001)
* ''Pino Daniele, Francesco De Gregori, Fiorella Mannoia, Ron - In Tour'' (Sony, 2002)
* ''Concerto: Medina Live'' (Sony, 2002)
* ''Electric Jam'' (Sony, 2009)
* ''Boogie Boogie Man'' (Sony, 2010)
* ''La Grande Madre'' (Blue Drag/Sony, 2012)

'''With [[Al Di Meola]]'''
* ''Kiss My Axe'' ([[Tomato Records|Tomato]], 1991)
* ''The Infinite Desire'' (Universal, 1998)

'''With [[Peter Gabriel]]'''
* ''Hit'' ([[Real World Records|Real World]], 2003)
* ''Growing Up Live Tour'' (Real World, 2004)
* ''Still Growing Up Live & Unwrapped'' (Real World, 2005)

'''With others'''
* [[Bobby Watson (American musician)|Bobby Watson]] – ''Urban Renewal'' ([[Kokopelli Records|Kokopelli]], 1995)
* [[Regina Carter]] – ''Regina Carter'' ([[Atlantic Records|Atlantic Jazz]], 1995)
* [[Wayne Shorter]] – ''[[High Life (Wayne Shorter album)|Highlife]]'' ([[Verve Records|Verve]], 1995)
* Wayne Escofferey – ''Firehouse 12'' ([[Sunnyside Records|Sunnyside]], 2013)
* [[Terri Lyne Carrington]] – ''Mosaic 2'' (Concord, 2015)

===Movies===
'''With Peter Gabriel'''
* ''Growing Up Live''  (Real World, 2004)
* ''Still Growing Up Live''  (Real World, 2005)
* “Al DiMeola Live at the Palladium” (Tomato Records, 1996)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.thetrioofoz.com/ Trio of OZ]
* [http://potc.giorgiosound.com/index.php?page=rachel%20z Bio at Party of the Century]
* [http://news.allaboutjazz.com/uys-interview-sarah-jane-morris-and-rachel-z.php Video interview at Allaboutjazz.com]
* [https://www.npr.org/2018/08/03/634627570/rachel-z-on-piano-jazz Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Rachel Z]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rachel Z}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:New England Conservatory alumni]]
[[Category:Berklee College of Music alumni]]
[[Category:American jazz pianists]]
[[Category:American women jazz pianists]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Chesky Records artists]]
[[Category:Columbia Records artists]]
[[Category:GRP Records artists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women pianists]]
[[Category:21st-century American pianists]]
[[Category:Vertú members]]
[[Category:Steps Ahead members]]