Featured on Songwriter, ZOLA's latest CD "here with you" - 15 originals:
Zola – Vocals and Backup Vocals.
Doug Hammer – Piano, Percussion & Synth.
Steve Chaggaris – Drums.
David Landoni – Acoustic & Electric Bass.
Trent Austin – Trumpet & Flugel Horn.
Arnie Krakowsky – Soprano & Tenor Sax.
Jeff Galindo - Trombone.
Influences
Sting, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Carpenters, Carol King, Beatles, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Jewel, KD Lang, Annie Lennox, Dianna Krall, Barry Manilow, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, John Denver, Dianne Warren, the timeless Jazz and Blues legends....
Sounds Like
Sarah McClachlan, Norah Jones, Carol King, Jewel, a young Dolly Parton, & Zola!
Zola is an internationally known vocalist and Billboard award winning songwriter whose songs are recognized in many categories including, jazz, cabaret, blues, adult-contemporary and country.
This versatile singer~pianist has recorded six solo albums of original material, that also include baby lullabies and children’s music. She has performed as lead female singer and commissioned songwriter with general business bands and as a solo artist overseas and locally, making her singer~songwriter USA debut in 1997 at Boston’s Scullers Jazz Club.
Appearances in many local area clubs followed and in November of 2006 Zola returned to Scullers Jazz Club where she won critical acclaim and rave reviews for her performance that celebrated the launch of her latest CD “here with you”, recorded with some of Boston’s finest jazz musicians.
Zola, born in Cape Town, South Africa, apparently began singing long before she could talk. She started composing songs at the piano at a very young age and by the time she was a teenager, she had already had a number of her songs published. Being the daughter of a world renowned Yiddish and Broadway actress/singer/comedienne, Chayela Rosenthal, Zola’s introduction to the arts came about at a very young age.
Her love of musical theater came naturally, as did her gifted talents as a singer and her ability to act. By age three she was already the favorite child star in the open air summer stage shows. At age nine, Zola was singing and dancing in local community variety shows with “The Tripple Ripple” - a singing trio she formed with her two best friends! She continued on to play every lead role in her school musicals and plays.
Growing up, Zola saw every musical movie, or theatrical production that she could, after which she would race home, humming the theme songs in her head, and run to the piano where her little fingers would effortlessly bring those melodies out to play. Daughter of Holocaust survivor parents, Zola was “raised in an environment well acquainted with love, need, loss and hope, all of which became the building blocks of her original compositions”, sought after songs that are continually covered by other artist too. While greatly inspired by Broadway musicals, film scores and instrumentals, Zola’s other musical influences included Barbara Streisand, The Carpenters, The Beatles, Sting, Bette Midler and the legendary jazz greats. In her college years, while singing with leading general business bands, Zola wrote and performed “First Dance” wedding songs for herself and a few close friends.
She then moved on to voiceovers, commercials, contract work for hire, songs for film and privately commissioned songwriting projects that include personalized song gifts. In between her Creative Arts “Broadway Kid Starz” teaching program and entertaining young children, Zola continues to write, record and perform - all with equal passion and love.
Press quotes: “...really a beautiful, beautiful CD…”- Holly Harris - WBOS 92.9 - Blues on Sunday. “...listening to your CD...I am floored and in love. The arrangements, your voice, your songs, your presence and intentions - all stellar.”- Dane Vannatter. “...good hooks and such pretty melodies…” Ralph Murphy, Assistant VP ASCAP, Nashville. “...her songs have a startling immediacy....She has those delicate ethereal high notes that quiver with emotion...” – Beverly Creasey, Theatre Mirror, IRNE.
