Zara McFarlane Celebrates Sarah Vaughan

About Zara McFarlane

Award-winning singer-songwriter Zara McFarlane is known for her unique sound, melding influences from jazz, reggae, folk, and nu-soul.

McFarlane first caught the attention of world-renowned DJ Gilles Peterson on the release of her self-produced EP in 2010 and has released four studio albums on his label Brownswood Recordings. She went on to win Best Jazz Act at the MOBO Awards (2014) and Urban Music Awards (2015). From her jazz roots and honing her craft with Tomorrow’s Warriors, McFarlane continues to push the boundaries of jazz-adjacent music via an exploration into the folk and spiritual traditions of her ancestral motherland, Jamaica — a synthesis described as a “potent hybrid” in Arise.

The twice Jazz FM Vocalist of the Year has led her band in festivals from British Summer Time (Hyde Park), Field Day, and BoomTown, to prestigious international jazz festivals and venues such as Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, the Royal Albert Hall, Love Supreme (UK), Rochester Jazz (US), Cully Jazz (Switzerland), St. Lucia Jazz Festival, and SXSW (US). With a voice that has been described as “a caressing voice of sparkling clarity” (All About Jazz), McFarlane is an in-demand vocalist internationally and has performed with acclaimed musicians including High Masekela, Gregory Porter, Gary Bartz, Ernest Ranglin, Shabaka Hutchings, Moses Boyd, and Ezra Collective, and has collaborated with esteemed producers Lil’ Louie Vega, Swindle, Floating Points, Osunlade, and Dennis Bovell.

In the centenary year of Sarah Vaughan’s birth, Zara McFarlane released the album Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan on Eternal Source of Light / k7! Records.