Shahzad Ismaily

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and master improviser Shahzad Ismaily has become a much-sought-after session musician owing to his instrumental prowess and knowledge of the musics of many different cultures. Ismaily was born in 1972 in Philadelphia to Pakistani immigrant parents. An outsider as a child due to his race and physical abnormalities (he was born with a rare genetic condition), he took solace in music. Largely self-taught, with innate deep intuition, he mastered a variety of instruments, including the electric and double bass, guitar, banjo, accordion, flute, drums, various analog synthesizers, and drum machines. He earned a master's degree in biochemistry from Arizona State University and traveled worldwide to study the music of different cultures, including Pakistan, India, Turkey, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, Morocco, and Iceland. After playing in bands during his college years, Ismaily moved to New York City in 2000 and opened his own studio, Figure Eight. Active in the fields of rock, jazz, and experimental music in the New York downtown scene, he has played on over 400 albums, collaborating with a staggering range of musicians, from Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Elvis Costello, through Oren Ambarchi, Bill Frisell, and John Zorn, to Laura Veirs, Feist, and Damien Rice. A member of the bands Ceramic Dog, Secret Chiefs Three, and Ex Eye, Ismaily also regularly composes for theater and film, including the 2008 Sundance winner Frozen River. He collaborated with Merz and Laraaji for the 2019 album Dreams of Sleep and Wakes of Sound, and with Arooj Aftab and Vijay Iyer on 2022's Grammy-winning Love in Exile. ~ John D. Buchanan