Zara McFarlane: Dip And Whine

For the last two or three decades we have looked to America for women to take on the mantle of the female jazz vocal tradition. Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Liz Wright, Esperanza Spalding, Cécile McLorin Salvant just to name a few. Today we can add to that roster, London based Jazz singer Zara McFarlane who is diligently rising to the top of her game.
Mar 2018

Rightly or wrongly and probably due to the lack of home grown jazz vocalists, we [British] are too hasty to burden emerging talents with the added responsibility of flying the flag. This is a challenge that the softly spoken MOBO Award winner seems to relish. The British jazz scene is undergoing a renaissance and McFarlane is at the heart of it. As a first generation British-Caribbean [both her parents were born in Jamaica], McFarlane is well poised to pull on both cultures first-hand. Her music radiates an identity that is quintessentially and refreshingly the Black British experience, drawing from a medley of Caribbean and African influences.

JS met with McFarlane when she visited Manchester as part of her tour of her current album Arise. She was gracious enough to allocate time after her performance but not before the ever smiling McFarlane had attended to a queue of panegyrizers and selfie seekers. Amongst other things, we talked about growing up with her childhood friend Laura Mvula, listening to Lover’s Rock and discovering jazz music.

Interview

JS
I have never been to a jazz concert and heard the performer ask the audience to dip and whine.
Zara
[Laughs], Never ever? I see you’ve never been to one of my shows, but you’ve done it now [Laughs].
JS
This is your second time at Band On The Wall, how is the reception?
Zara
Amazing! It’s really special actually, it’s a lovely venue to come back to. It’s even more full than the last time, so the word is getting out which is lovely. We hardly tour that much in the UK, so it’s nice to be asked to come back and do something here in Manchester.
JS
I was speaking to the filmmaker Clive Hunt before the show and said he had filmed you in Amsterdam.
Zara
Yes, yeah we caught up in Amsterdam.
JS
Your third album "Arise" is quite varied, impossible to pigeonhole. Is it fair to say you are not a stereotypical jazz singer?
Zara
Good. I’ll take it
That’s the music [reggae] I grew up listening to at home. It wasn’t even Jazz really. Jazz I got into much later, probably late teens.
JS
One thing comes across is how comfortable you sound with the reggae vibe, does that come naturally?
Zara
Yeah, well my parents are Jamaican. I went to Jamaica for the first time when I was about five to see my grandparents who were living there at the time. I’ve been back there many times over the years and I just love that music. That’s the music I grew up listening to at home. It wasn’t even Jazz really. Jazz I got into much later, probably late teens. Hearing people like Nina Simone. I think I heard her voice in a movie and I thought she was a man. I was trying to find out who that was and I discovered Nina Simone. Obviously, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald later Sarah Vaughan [who] I love.
Zara
No, it was reggae music I definitely grew up listening to. Lovers rock, Gregory Issacs, old stuff, Congo that kinda roots reggae. So it’s definitely something that’s natural for me to be singing.
Zara McFarlane Photo credit: Gladstone Minzie


Interview continued...

JS
Apart from your accent, the sound of your voice associates you strongly with Mvula [Smile]
Zara
Laura?
JS
Yes.
Zara
It’s funny you say that [Smile]
JS
What was it like working with her?
Zara
Well it’s a strange because my family are Jamaican. Both my parents were born in Jamaica. But when my grandparents came to England, they came to Telford in Shropshire, so I’ve got a lot of family based in Telford. I’ve got family in Birmingham. My aunt is a good friend of Laura’s mum and knows the family. [So] I knew of Laura when I was younger, we weren’t close but knew each other’s families, so there’s the connection.
Zara
I was asked to audition for the Royal Shakespeare Company project that she [Laura] was doing, Anthony & Cleopatra. I don’t think she knew that I got asked to audition for it. It was like “Oh hey Zara”. I auditioned with her there and the musical director, and I got the gig [Smile]. It was nice to sing her music.
JS
Was that daunting?
Zara
It was a strange because I’d never done that kind of theatre, it was different to what I normally do. I was just in the band. I had a few moments on stage where I was in costume, but it wasn’t singing lots of songs, there was just pieces of music and soundscapes which is quite a different way for me to singing, certainly more a classical edge. That was quite a challenge.
JS
I don’t know how much you follow social media or go online? Quincy Jones reportedly said that regardless who the singer is, there is nothing they can do with a bad song. How do you writing your songs?
Zara
It varies.[Pause] With this record, I started with the rhythm of the music, mostly. I knew that I wanted to explore Caribbean rhythms and vocal harmony a lot more than any of my other records. So I started with the rhythm and then the baseline [I often start with baselines when I write songs. I think that's my reggae side] and I scat around melodies and piece it together.
Zara
I play piano very simply and guitar very simply, so I use either one to start writing and then put down some chords on GarageBand or Logic, whatever I want to use at the time. I scout around for some melodies and then piece it together.
JS
That's interesting
Zara
Yeah, I often write lyrics to the melody which some people find [really] strange because most people don’t do it that way apparently, but that’s the way I tend to do it. I have the melody first then write the lyrics to it.
JS
So there is a great deal of your personality in the music you create.
Zara
Yeah. I suppose it's more common for most artist nowadays.
JS
With your creativity lets hope you will still be making fantastic music twenty years from now.
Zara
Yeah, lets keep our fingers crossed for that. Maybe thirty or forty [Laughs]
I keep my MOBO on a shelf in my music room/office.
JS
What other awards are on your shortlist?
Zara
I don’t know. It’s a pleasure to be nominated for any award really. When you're younger and you’re watching these music shows, Grammy’s and all these different things, even the MOBO’s; I remember when it first started, the MOBO’s and it was like a huge thing because it was a black award show celebrating black music. It was a big deal. To be nominated for that was massive and to win one was. It’s still quite crazy to think that you’ve got one.
JS
Have you ever dabbled in any other genre of music, like vocals on a garage track [Laughs]?
Zara
I have done lots of different styles of music. The first recordings that I did were House, Soulful House, a guy called Baxter, released a few tracks. I’ve done backing vocals for pop bands back in the day, Jazz Jamaica which is a Jazz Reggae band. In fact, I used to do backing vocals for one of the most famous Rolling Stones tribute bands called the Counterfeit Stones…. yes, I’ve done lots of different things over the years.
JS
Would you ever work with the Reggae Philharmonic?
Zara
I’m waiting for the call from the Reggae Philharmonic, I’d love to do something with them!
JS
What 's your message to Manchester?
Zara
It was great to be back at Band On The Wall. It’s a pleasure to be invited back for a second time. It was so much fun getting everyone in Manchester to do the dip and wine. [Laughs]
JS
It was a pleasure to meet you.
Zara
Lovely to meet you, thank you.

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