by Garrison Brown

Zac Zinger is a friend of a friend in the performance business. I first experienced him performing at a live youtube video gig being done at a bar in midtown. At the time, he was playing the saxophone, but in the next few concerts he was featured playing the Shakuhachi as well. From what I have seen of his work, he mostly does Jazz concerts and video game music. Below is a list of the 5 questions I interviewed him with, followed intermittently by his well thought-out responses.

1. What do you think led you on the path to playing such a unique instrument, the Shakuhachi?

 I went to a big band concert in Japan in 2012, and an American shakuhachi player was featured on a few tunes. The idea of using this instrument I’d never heard of in a jazz context really resonated with me, as did the way it can play in between the notes, allowing for another layer of expressiveness. Only later did I discover the wealth of traditional music and history that really makes it special.

2. Is there a style of Jazz that you prefer to play? Or perhaps a style you find yourself playing most often?

Every style of jazz is challenging to play and requires a knowledge of the tiny nuances that make them unique. So I like playing pretty much any of them, as long as it’s at a high level.

3. Is there something about the Shakuhachi that makes it appealing for playing Jazz?

The shakuhachi is a fully microtonal instrument, meaning it can play not only the 12 notes in the equal-tempered chromatic scale, but anywhere in the infinite spectrum between them. This makes it expressive on the level of a human voice, unlike the western flute, for example, which is limited mostly to playing the twelve notes it’s tuned to. For jazz, more expressive=better. But what interests me most is the idea of borrowing musical vocabulary from Japanese music and working it into the jazz style in a way that’s organic. For example, we don’t have an English word for “an overused phrase,” but the French do, so we borrow their word: “cliché.” It now makes sense in the context of an English sentence. I think finding ways to do this musically is really interesting.

4. When playing Jazz, do you prefer to play the saxophone or Shakuhachi?

I can’t say I prefer one or the other, that’s why in my own band I frequently play both. Both are supremely expressive instruments that lead you to find your own voice. The saxophone has seen over 100 years of exploration in the jazz medium, so it feels more comfortable that there’s an established norm to draw inspiration from,. But the shakuhachi feels like I’m doing new things that may never have been done before, so it can feel exhilarating but intimidating at the same time.

5. How would you describe the New York City live Jazz scene? (Perhaps a favorite venue?)

New York is the center of the universe for many industries and art forms, and jazz is no different. Because the level of the musicians is so high across the board, you have no choice but to push yourself to be your best just to keep up. It’s not for everyone––some people don’t care for the pressure and aren’t self-motivated enough to push themselves to be their best. Others don’t have the desire to feel the discomfort of being surrounded by literally thousands of musicians who are better than you. But if you have a desire to be pushed and thrive in situations that require you to reach a higher level, New York is the place to be for jazz.