Shiri Zorn and George Muscatello expose attendees to new flavor of jazz

By: Kevin Conley

Staff writer

“We take those standards that have been done a million times in different ways over the past 80 years and try to make them our own,” said international vocalist Shiri Zorn of her and  improvisational guitarist George Muscatello’s reinvented jazz style.

 Longtime collaborators and couple, Zorn and Muscatello, serenaded attendees with reinvented jazz on Thursday, Oct. 3 in the Bulmer Telecommunications Center Auditorium. 

For their performance, Zorn was lead singer and Muscatello played lead guitar. They also collaborated with other players such as percussionist Peter Ryan and Lou Pappas, who played the cello.

Zorn and Muscatello have been playing as a duo for seven years. Throughout their career, they met other talented musicians. Ryan has been playing in the band for four years while Pappas recently joined during the summer. 

“It was wonderful just to play with [Lou],”said Zorn. “[He’s] a wonderful musician, and we just thought it would sound good in this room, and sorta bring something, and bring a little of everything we have in this room.” 

According to Zorn, all of the music the band played was from the American Songbook. This collection of music is standard repertoire for jazz musicians. The featured songs included “Nature Boy”, “Beautiful Love”, “Alone Together” and “Juju”. 

Zorn also mentioned how the performance was a question about interpretation and perception. She emphasized the importance of an artist’s intention in addition to the mood of the audience.

“We pick material because there is something in it that feels like a statement.” Zorn said.\

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana. It originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. 

Zorn sings in a style that borrows from her Middle Eastern roots while Muscatello uses his skill with musical scales to add depth. After nearly a decade, they are still working to keep the flavor of jazz alive.

“I wouldn’t say we do it to support the genre, we’d say we are part of the genre,” Zorn continued, “We do this because we find something in it that we find that’s moving us in one way.”