Zoh Amba

BIOGRAPHY

Zoh Amba, born Britni Hamrick in Kingsport, Tennessee, on April 27, 2000, grew up in a rural, working-class household and started on tenor saxophone in school band before teaching herself flute, guitar, and piano, drawing on John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. After briefly studying at the San Francisco Conservatory and New England Conservatory, she left to work under mentor David Murray. Her 2022 debut, O, Sun, was produced by John Zorn with Thomas Morgan, Joey Baron, and Micah Thomas, and the same year she released Bhakti, a trio session with Tyshawn Sorey and Morgan. In 2025 Amba turned toward songwriting and acoustic guitar, resulting in Eyes Full, a self-produced album released on Matador Records in 2026 and tracked live at Sun Studio in Asheville with drummer White, guitarist Kevin Hyland, and bassist Landon George. The record reached a Metacritic score of 83, and Outside Noise wrote that it channels her jazz-avant-garde background into a voicing of the music of her native East Tennessee.

WHY THEY'RE COOL

Amba's path from Ayler-steeped free jazz saxophone, honed under mentor David Murray and on record with John Zorn, Tyshawn Sorey, and Thomas Morgan, to Appalachian-inflected acoustic songwriting on Eyes Full is a genuine reinvention rather than a stylistic pose. Outside Noise described the album as carrying her avant-garde jazz experience into a distinct voicing of East Tennessee music, and it registered a Metacritic score of 83, reflecting the range of her creative pivot.

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