ZENG

Keyboardist, Composer, and Producer ZENG sees the world as one, musically speaking. He’s been an opener for Jazz luminaries Chris Potter, Terence Blanchard, and Marc Cary, and he’s been on the NY improvisational music scene with appearances at Smalls, Smoke, Birdland, and many more. His debut album is titled Loading… , immediately disarming critical faculties, forcing us to pay attention, and preparing the listener for something…NEW.

The album ranges from smooth and seductive blend of laid back groove infused with Jazz meandering, upbeat dance floor bangers, and layered electronics. The production is uniquely ZENG, taking us into a new world where these seemingly different styles all exist together. 

Created mostly remotely during COVID, Loading… is a testament to the strength and solidarity of the local NYC music scene, displaying how even though NY has been significantly changed by the pandemic, the scene is still thriving. Consisting of hard-hitting grooves combined with lush harmonies and melodies, tight production, and soaring solos, the album highlights ZENG’s role as a genre-bending producer, songwriter, and composer with jazz-lofi and dance sensibilities, and is intended to appeal not only to the listener’s ears, but also their bodies. 

As a graduate of the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in Jazz Piano Performance, he studied with Blue Note recording artist Kendrick Scott and also studied arranging/composition with Macarthur Genius Fellow/multi-Grammy nominated saxophonist Miguel Zenon. David was mentored by the highly acclaimed gospel-pianist/vocalist/music director Damien Sneed (Aretha Franklin, Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross).  Prior to this, he graduated from Princeton University in 2014 magna cum laude and was heavily involved in the Downbeat award-winning jazz program there. And as a soon-to-be physician at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, ZENG’s academic interests and research (at institutions such as Princeton, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine) cover the intersection of music and cognitive neuroscience/psychiatry/neurology.

Loading... features David Zheng as primary songwriter, with different co-writers on each track. Guest artists, placed carefully according the song's nature, include J. Hoard, Braxton Cook, Chris Bullock, Maurice Brown, and Marquis Hill. Loading... is set for release on December 11, 2020