Zoh Amba

Born in 2000 in Kingsport, Tennessee, Zoh Amba has developed a musical language that sits between contemporary jazz, free jazz and open improvisation. Her work centers on the tenor saxophone but also includes flute and composition. She trained from 2018 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and later at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where David Murray counted among her mentors. Zoh Amba belongs to an American scene attentive to both free forms and written structures. Her debut album, O, Sun, was released in 2022 on Tzadik, produced by John Zorn, featuring Micah Thomas, Thomas Morgan and Joey Baron. That same year she released O Life, O Light Vol. 1 with William Parker and Francisco Mela, followed by Causa y Efecto (Vol. 1), a duo with Mela, and then Bhakti, recorded with Micah Thomas, Tyshawn Sorey and Matt Hollenberg. Her playing favors direct, fluid and often tense saxophone lines within an aesthetic that blends melodic fervor, collective energy and space for improvisation. Zoh Amba also appears in projects of varying formats—from quartet to collective—such as Beings on There Is a Garden (2024), and in collaborations with Chad Fowler, Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp and Marek Pospieszalski.