Michael Zerang
Michael Zerang (born November 16, 1958 in Chicago) is an American jazz percussionist.
Zerang's parents both emigrated to the United States from the Middle East; his father is Iranian and his mother Iraqi.[1] 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.[1] He began touring internationally in 1981, and has recorded on more than 40 albums.
Zerang has played with many USA-basec jazz musicians, such as Fred Anderson, Joe McPhee, Hamid Drake, Jim Baker, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Tatsu Aoki, Ken Vandermark, Jeff Parker, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kevin Drumm, and Scott Fields; he has also played with international musicians such as Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Jaap Blonk, Fredy Studer, Johannes Bauer, Magda Mayas, Elisabeth Harnik, Mazen Kerbaj, Sharif Sehnaoui, Mikolaj Trzaska, Luc Houtkamp, and Axel Dörner. He has been active as a jazz educator at the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University, in addition to founding and directing the Link's Hall Performance Series from 1985 to 1989.[2]
Discography
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- 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)
- Tales Out of Time (HatHut, 2004)
- Guts (OkkaDisk, 2007)