Yazz Ahmed

Born in London in 1983, Yazz Ahmed is a British-Bahraini trumpet player, bugler and composer whose career has been built between the United Kingdom and Bahrain, where she spent part of her childhood before returning to live in London. Her music sits at the crossroads of jazz, jazz fusion and Arab influences, with a writing process that blends loose grooves, psychedelic textures, improvisation and modes inspired by Gulf traditions. Active since the early 2010s, Yazz Ahmed released Finding My Way Home in 2011, then more clearly developed this direction with The Saboteuse in 2017 and Polyhymnia in 2019, two albums that give a central role to instrumental storytelling and long-form structures. Her work positions itself as much in the London jazz scene as in transdisciplinary and orchestral projects, with collaborations and participations alongside Radiohead, These New Puritans, Transglobal Underground, and the London Jazz Orchestra. Yazz Ahmed has also composed for commissions related to live performance and thematic contexts, notably around female figures, memory and the cosmos. In 2025, she adds A Paradise in the Hold to her discography, continuing a body of work where cultural heritages, contemporary writing and improvisation move forward together.