Spotlight

Az Samad

Guitarist . Composer . Educator

Az Samad is a Malaysian guitarist, composer, and educator with an impressive array of accomplishments. He is a 3-time TEDx speaker, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, and has recorded with Grammy winners Flaco Jiménez and Max Baca. Az has performed in the USA, Europe, and Asia, and has appeared on 22 CDs.

One of Az's areas of focus is Malay Jazz, and he is an advocate for the music of P. Ramlee and Jimmy Boyle. He has performed with a diverse range of musicians, including violinist Roby Lakatos, rock guitarist Bumblefoot, singer-songwriter Zee Avi, and fingerstyle guitarists Adam Rafferty and Mike Dawes. Az has also performed as part of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and was the classical guitar soloist for the Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Kuala Lumpur concert.

In addition to his performance work, Az is also a dedicated educator. He develops online guitar courses in Malay to help guitarists improve their skills from beginner to pro. Az is also the co-host of the weekly "Malaysian Musicians on CH" room in the Clubhouse app, alongside songwriter and entrepreneur Altimet. Past speakers in this room have included Sheila Majid, Aubrey Suwito, Ahmad Izham Omar, Emmett (Butterfingers), Joe Flizzow, Aman Ra, and Jennifer Thompson.

Az was a panellist at the M1nted conference, Malaysia's first NFT conference, where he spoke on the topic of "How To Find Sustainability in Music, Whether It Is Web2 or Web3". He has also created two NFT collections, The Malaysian Guitar Etudes of July 2018 and Antara air dan airmata (Of water and tears), which can be found here and here.

In addition to his many achievements, Az's book Jazz Improvisation Uncovered received acclaim from American jazz guitarist Julian Lage. Despite his many accomplishments, Az remains humble and passionate about his work. As he puts it, "I love music and I love sharing music with others. That's what it's all about."

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