SAZA BIO | saza

SAZA CHOI

“The wild-haired guitarist, auteur interprète along with his powerful guitarwork that's packed full of bluesy, soulful vocals.”

He has a nickname of "SAZA", meaning "The Lion", which comes from the wild hairstyle and the roar of his guitar sound. SAZA started off with a blues-based mainstream rock band, however, at the age of 20 after hearing the sounds of Wes Montgomary’s guitar he was inspired to deepen his understanding of jazz. He broadened his scope of jazz music through listening to guitarists such as Pat Metheney and John Scofield.

His first solo album [SAZA's Groove, 2007] displayed his guitar prowess and perpetuated him as one of Korea’s eminent guitarists. He showed off his versatile talents with internationally renowned Korean jazz band "Winterplay", as an all-arounder with his guitar, vocal, writing, and composing. His bluesy guitar style and his debut as a singer in Winterplay was successful with his full and remarkable singing voice. Then he expanded his activity to form a Jazz Duo with bassist Jung Young-Joon, they managed to bring out the unique sound of the feast with dense lyrical playing produced only by the acoustic guitar and the contrabass.

SAZA, further establishes his musical identity through his second album [SAZA’s Blues, 2012], followed by two singles including [Christmas Blues, 2014] and [It is so, 2015]. Featuring blues style music enhanced through his dynamic playing and multi-genre background, this album represents a stunning evolution for SAZA who shows outstanding talent in both Jazz and Blues. SAZA is constantly communicating with his fans through a variety of live performances, and is continuing his musical activity as the leader of the SAZA BAND with the aim of developing the diversity and quality of Korean Blues / Jazz & Pop music.

SAZA has also collaborated with many artists playing in versatile genres of Jazz, Rock and Pop. This has become a firm foundation in his playing style and has created a unique style of his own. His work is recognized through various media and awards such as Korea's Readers' Poll Award by Jazzpeople magazine & NAVER of which he has won three times for "The Guitarist of the Year" in 2009, 2012 and 2013.

SAZA incorporates traditional blues and has reinterpreted it with his personal tones and dynamics. The music that he portrays is something much different with his lyrical content and bluesy influences. There is no doubt that the singer songwriter guitarist appeal to the mass audiences with his signature sounds and his deep musical content.