Guardian Express, article 17/11/09 – “Talking all that jazz”

Shameem Taheri-Lee will launch her first album this Friday at the Civic Hotel in Inglewood.

Taheri-Lee (21) is building a name for herself as a jazz singer, having performed professionally since 2004 and currently completing a jazz composition course at WAAPA.

Earlier this year, she was also a finalist in the prestigious James Morrison Generations in Jazz Vocal Scholarship.

She describes her solo work as ‘90s-esque R&B but played on acoustic instruments with a strong jazz influence.

“I hope that my style will bring something new to the Australia music scene,” she said. “There’s only a small original groove scene in Australia and it consists mainly of 70’s style funk bands and hip hop rappers.”

Taheri-Lee plays the Civic Hotel November 20 with support from The Brow, which won WA’s National Campus Band Competition, and The Accumulated Gestures.