Arooj Aftab has recently released her fourth solo album, Night Reign (Verve), to widespread acclaim and a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Jazz Album, with “Raat Ki Rani” winning Best Global Music Performance. The album expands the musical universe Aftab has created over the years. Night Reign features a stellar lineup of musicians (Cautious Clay, Vijay Iyer, Elvis Costello, James Franceis, Moor Mother, Joel Ross) united under the reliable, brilliant hand of the queen of the night. As the Wall Street Journal writes, “[Night Reign’s] beauty is obvious, and it stands on its own,” which helps explain its inclusion on many best albums of 2024 lists.
Night Reign’s predecessor, Vulture Prince, launched Aftab into the cultural zeitgeist, including a spot on President Barack Obama’s 2021 summer playlist. The acclaim for that record led to her being nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, winning for “Mohabbat.” The following year, she collaborated with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaili on a “master class in space,” the improvisational Love in Exile (Verve 2023), also nominated for a Grammy and winning the 2023 Edison Jazz Prize.
Aftab spent her teenage years in Lahore, Pakistan, the homeland of her music-loving parents. Her viral cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at age 18 helped propel her to study jazz at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, while Brooklyn, New York, became her next and most fruitful workshop for creating her genre-defying music.
Over the past few years, she’s given “rapturous performances” at major venues and international festivals, including Primavera, Glastonbury, Coachella, Le Guess Who? (which she curated), and the Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals. She’s appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk, Later with Jools Holland, Brodie, and Mahogany sessions. Aftab has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Financial Times, The Quietus, and Time, to name a few. She is a 2023 United States Artists Fellow and recipient of the Wilczek Award for Creativity in Music.
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