Zane Massey

The son of legendary (but barely documented) trumpeter-composer Cal Massey, Zane Massey grew up around music. Born in Philadelphia, he moved with his family shortly after to Brooklyn. Inspired by his father, Massey played early on in his dad's band and in his own Latin jazz group called the Young Blood Jazz Men. As a teenager he was working professionally and in the 1970's he recorded with Carlos Garnett. In the early 80's Massey was a member of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society and the experience of performing free funk nightly helped open up his style. He also played with Sun Ra and Jemeel Moondoc. Massey became active performing with other street musicians in subway terminals, even organizing New York's MUNY (Music Under New York), a big band comprised of other subway entertainers and musicians. Over time, Massey put together a regular combo of players who worked in Grand Central Station and he was "discovered" by a promoter who happened to be taking a train! Massey and his band (called The Foundation) were immediately booked for a tour of Italy and they recorded a CD for the Bart label. In addition, Zane Massey has recorded two sets as a leader for Delmark (including his debut in 1992) and appeared on Roy Campbell's Delmark set. A forceful tenorsaxophonist Massey keeps his jazz-oriented music open to the influences of hip hop, reggae and dance music.