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Zoh Amba

Zoh Amba

Jazz musician and composer

Jul 23, 2026

10:13
It's two more live performances from Zoe Amba and the band here in the studio.
11:47
I see you on the shore Dreaming of so much more A life you think you could only see in the sunshine I see you on the shore Dreaming of so much more A life you think you could only see in the sunshine With the kids back home Got in a fight last night with God Caught in shambles Lay on me Sick of feeling Wanting to die Looking for you In all the shakes of this life Looking for you And looking, looking, looking Woke in a panic That wouldn't let me up Pinned up against the wall Ran out to the neighbor's flowerbeds.
15:15
Picking daisies.
15:16
She loves me not.
15:19
Oh, it's trying to play on me.
15:27
It's a good feeling.
15:31
I'm hunting.

11 MINS LATER

26:08
Your
Music Person

Music Person

Zoh Amba

Jul 8 · 1h 0m

27:16
And I wonder how that feels for you.
27:19
That's a beautiful thing to say, all that.
27:22
Well, when I was playing the saxophone, which I kind of just look at as, like, devotional music.
27:27
People call it free jazz and stuff.
27:29
I just was just...
27:32
I just looked at it as not free jazz or anything like that, but I think it was really tough.
27:36
It was getting written about and I used to read everything and I honestly wanted to die in my hotel room every night.

30 MINS LATER

57:21
And will you play honestly or are you going to cheat?
24:38
Yeah.
24:39
And I really think, you know, I say, you know, "If I lived here and I didn't discover music, and somebody said, 'Here's a pill that'll take all your pain away or get closer to God,' I'd fucking take 10." You know what I'm saying? So, like, I'm not trying to put anything above or below or anything, I'm just saying what it is.
24:54
But, um, I think, you know, my mother was one of those souls that some, for some, some reason got caught up in that.
25:01
And she said, you know, "Once when you're an addict, you're an addict your whole life," you know? And it's, like, something that I never could understand.
25:07
And being, like, not her, but witnessing and still being, like, I don't know, like a ripple of like, you know, the, to stone dropping in the ripple, like you're still affected by these things and y- and as a child, you have a right to be affected.
25:18
And, and all these children that might listen to this, you have a right to feel every single thing you should feel inside of it and period.
25:25
But still, you know, I think I got to this age where, you know, I'm like reaching mid-20s, you know, and I'm like, "Fuck, like, I can't fix it.

51 MINS LATER

76:02
Sooner than 10 years, but I hope we talk soon.

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