Rez Abbasi

Rez Abbasi (born August 27, 1965 in Karachi, Pakistan) is an American fusion and jazz guitarist, music producer, and composer. Abbasi came with his parents to the United States and grew up in Los Angeles. Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, and Bill Frisell were successively his musical influences. He studied at the University of Southern California and Manhattan School of Music jazz and classical music, then he went to India, where he learned from percussionist Alla Rakha. 1987 he moved to New York City, where he has since worked. In 1991 he released his first album, which included the talent of Bob Mintzer, Kenny Werner, Gary Thomas, Peter Erskine, Marc Copland, and Michael Formanek. Since then he has played in the fusion genre, post-bop, hard bop, and jazz standards. Since the mid-1990s, Abbasi has operated as a music teacher and composer. In addition, he has worked as musical director and producer for singer Kiran Ahluwalia on his album Wanderlust (2008). Husband of Kiran Ahluwalia.