Michael Zerang (born November 16, 1958) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

and drummer.

Career

Zerang's parents both emigrated to the United States from the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

; his father is Iranian and his mother Iraqi.Biography
, Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians. Jazz.com. He began playing professionally in 1976 with Kent Kessler and studied at Wilbur Wright College from 1977 to 1978 and Roosevelt College from 1978 to 1982. Zerang has played with Dave Rempis,

Edward Wilkerson Edward L. Wilkerson Jr. (born July 27, 1953 in Terre Haute, Indiana) is an internationally recognized American jazz composer, arranger, musician, and educator based in Chicago. As founder and director of the cutting-edge octet 8 Bold Souls, and ...

, Fred Anderson,

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, Jeff Parker,

Joe McPhee Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is ...

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, Kent Kessler, , ,

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, and Hamid Drake. He has also played with international musicians such as Axel Dörner, Fredy Studer,

Hannes Bauer Johannes "Hannes" Bauer (22 July 1954 – 6 May 2016) was a German trombonist of improvised music and free jazz. He was the brother of the trombonist Conny Bauer. He was born in Halle. From 1979 onwards, he worked as a freelance musician in Be ...

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, Mazen Kerbaj,

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, and Tobias Delius. He has been a jazz educator at the Art Institute of Chicago and

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in addition to founding and directing the Link's Hall Performance Series from 1985 to 1989.Michael Zerang biography

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Discography

As leader

* ''Improvisors'' (Kontrans, 1996) * ''Redmoon Theater's the Ballad of Frankie and Johnny'' (Eighth Day Music, 1997) * ''35 Grapes (19 Sown)'' (BoxMedia, 1998) * ''Scratch Match '' (Penumbra, 2000) * ''Guts'' ( OkkaDisk, 2007)

As guest

* '' Bull Fiddle'' with Kent Kessler (

Okka Disk Okka Disk is an independent American jazz record company and label founded in Chicago by Bruno Johnson in 1994. Okka began as a rock music label, but Johnson soon changed direction to record free jazz.

, 2002) * '' Tales Out of Time'' (

Hathut Hathut Records is a Swiss record company and label founded by Werner Xavier Uehlinger in 1974 that specializes in jazz and classical music. The name of the label comes from the artwork of Klaus Baumgartner. Hathut encompasses the labels hat ART, ...

, 2004) * ''Yakuza - Transmutations'' (

Prosthetic In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

, 2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zerang, Michael American jazz percussionists 1958 births Musicians from Chicago Living people Jazz musicians from Illinois FMR Records artists NoBusiness Records artists Okka Disk artists