Zara McFarlane

Zara McFarlane is a UK jazz and soul singer-songwriter from London, born in 1983. Her work also sits within R&B, and she is associated with the label ZM Arts. She comes from a Jamaican family and grows up in Dagenham, on the border of Essex and London, with a home environment shaped by reggae and by R&B artists including Michael Jackson and Luther Vandross.

Early life and training

McFarlane appears on television as a teenager, doing a Lauryn Hill impression on Stars In Their Eyes. She attends a local comprehensive school before moving to the BRIT School in Croydon for sixth form, where she studies musical theatre. She later earns a BMus in Popular Music Performance from Tech Music School in Acton, part of the University of West London, and then studies jazz and improvisation at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Career

McFarlane builds her reputation in British jazz through a series of recordings and collaborations. Her debut album, Until Tomorrow (2011), receives strong reviews and a MOBO award nomination. It is based on an EP of acoustic jazz songs she records before being signed to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings. Peterson becomes an important figure in her career after they meet at the Southport Weekender in May 2010, when she performs there with the house music project Bopstar.

Her later album for Brownswood Recordings takes a broader musical approach, drawing on spiritual jazz, dub and reggae, with a stronger emphasis on songwriting and varied arrangements. Around half of the tracks are duets, and she uses more than one band across the record. She describes its lyrical focus as a journey through a woman’s life.

Collaborations and performances

Outside her solo work, McFarlane performs as a featured vocalist with Gary Crosby’s ska orchestra Jazz Jamaica, and works with British jazz musicians including Orphy Robinson, Denys Baptiste and Soweto Kinch. She also makes house music with Bopstar and records a tribute to Tammi Terrell with Norwegian DJ and producer Dalminjo. Her tracks are remixed or reworked by Ogris Debris, Floating Points, Osunlade and Emanative.

She also fronts Italian DJ Nicola Conte’s big band, performs at a Nina Simone tribute concert in Amsterdam, and supports Hugh Masekela and Gregory Porter. She appears at the London Jazz Festival opposite Dianne Reeves at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Teaching

McFarlane also works in education, leading workshops in vocals and improvisation across Britain and Europe.