Artist Bio
For Rachel Z, the Roland connection runs deep. During the 80’s, the New York jazz-phenomenon-in-waiting picked up her first D-50 synth, S-750 sampler and MKS-20 piano. As her career exploded with 1988’s Grammy-winning Tokyo Blue album, Rachel’s rig grew alongside the acclaim, and she’s since used keyboards including the A-80, A-90 and A-800 in settings from her solo band and Steps Ahead to Stanley Clarke’s Vertú and Neal Schon’s Vortex. But Rachel has never pushed the envelope as far as she does with the Roland RD-2000 stage piano. As a world-class player and ferocious improviser, she prizes the responsive weighted keys and authentic tonality of the RD-2000’s engine. But as a sonic visionary, Rachel goes deeper, using the flexible onboard sounds and smart MIDI control to deliver “keyboard nirvana”.
