Michael Zerang

Michael Zerang (born November 16, 1958 in Chicago) is an American jazz percussionist. Zerang's parents both emigrated to the United States from the Middle East; his father is Iranian and his mother Iraqi. He began playing professionally in 1976 (with Kent Kessler), and studied at Wilbur Wright College from 1977 to 1978 and Roosevelt College from 1978 to 1982. He began touring internationally in 1981, and has recorded on more than 120 albums. Zerang has played with many American-based jazz musicians, such as Jim Baker, Dave Rempis, Edward Wilkerson, Fred Anderson, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Hamid Drake, Jeff Parker, Joe McPhee, Josh Berman, Kent Kessler, Kevin Drumm, Scott Fields, Mars Williams, and Tatsu Aoki. He has also played with international musicians such as Axel Dörner, Elisabeth Harnik, Fredy Studer, Hannes Bauer, Jaap Blonk, Luc Houtkamp, Magda Mayas, Mats Gustafsson, Mazen Kerbaj, Mikolaj Trzaska, Peter Brötzmann, Sharif Sehnaoui, and Tobias Delius. He has been active as a jazz educator at the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University, in addition to founding and directing the Link's Hall Performance Series from 1985 to 1989.