GRAMMY® VOTERS: FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
NECTAR by ZASKA
Best R&B Album
NECTAR is a groove-driven fusion of R&B with neo-soul, jazz , and hip-hop. It’s the third album from ZASKA, the music project of Irish guitarist, producer, and bandleader Max Zaska.
NECTAR is a collaboration with six Irish vocalists showcasing the talent, vibe, and energy of a scene off the beaten path.
STREAM NECTAR
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Featuring:
- shiv
- Melina Malone
- Gemma Dunleavy
- jarjarjr
- Mik Pyro
- J Smith
NECTAR is a definitive work of contemporary jazz hybridization. While the album features modern R&B and hip-hop vocal collaborators, the musical foundation is 100% rooted in the jazz tradition. Led by jazz guitarist, composer, and producer Max Zaska, NECTAR’s arrangements are anchored by formally trained and experienced jazz session musicians. While the album introduces genre-blending vocal collaborators across its tracks, its core musical identity relies on sophisticated horn arrangements, jazz harmonic structures, and instrumental improvisation.
Every performance was live-tracked with no programmed rhythm tracks, synthetic quantization, or sampling, reinforcing its acoustic foundation in the jazz lineage. NECTAR uses jazz as a structural framework to integrate progressive soul and modern groove-based songwriting into an unmistakably jazz-led aesthetic.
The album is a forward-thinking body of work that reflects the modern evolution of the genre, incorporating cross-genre collaboration while remaining deeply grounded in the musicianship, compositional approaches, and improvisational vocabulary of the idiom. As an innovative, non-traditional jazz record, NECTAR perfectly embodies the criteria for the Best Alternative Jazz Album category.
Max Zaska
Max Zaska is the Irish guitarist, songwriter, bandleader, and producer behind the band ZASKA. A groundbreaking artist, he has been instrumental in establishing the scene in Ireland that blends jazz, hip hop, neo-soul, R&B, and funk.
Zaska’s ability to spot and record with up-and-coming Irish vocalists began with Hozier (who was lead vocalist for the band for 3 years), and continues today.
The ZASKA band has a reputation for high-energy live shows and surprise guest appearances. Notably, the band played SuperJazz and Buraco do Jazz in Brazil, Mladíi ladí Jazz in Prague, Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, Bray International Jazz Festival and sold out upstairs at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.
As a songwriter and producer, Max’s influences come from neo-soul (Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Anderson .Paak), jazz-funk (Snarky Puppy, Vulfpeck), and indie soul (Hiatus Kaiyote, Tom Misch, Nubiyan Twist). Zaska’s guitar style is rooted in jazz, inspired by Wes Montgomery and John Scofield, with the grooves of Nile Rodgers and Carlos Santana, crafting a sound that’s unmistakably his own.
Max holds a BA Honours in Jazz Performance from Berklee-affiliated Newpark Music School in Dublin. His scholarships took him to study in Brazil with Carlos Ezequiel & Douglas Fanseca, Italy with Julian Colarossi, and Canada with Dave Douglas & Anthony Wilson.
A versatile session guitarist and arranger, you can hear Max on the 2025 track Holding On To Life by Omar, the godfather of British neo-soul, and on tracks by The Waterboys (Didn’t We Walk On Water), among others.
As a Musical Director, Zaska has worked with up-and-coming Irish artists Tolü Makay and Denise Chaila on live tours, showcases, and televised appearances.
Max lives in the Irish countryside with his wife and four young daughters.
The Story of NECTAR
The songs on NECTAR began with Max Zaska’s month-long residency in Paris at the Centre Culturel Irlandais where, in one-week rotations, he wrote with shiv, Melina Malone, and Gemma Dunleavy. Each week was capped with a stripped-back public performance of some of the new songs in the 17th-century chapel on site.
Following Paris, another writing residency in Cork, Ireland, bore two new jazz-hop songs co-written with jarjarjr. As part of that residency, Max developed and arranged the Paris and Cork songs for a 13-piece band that then performed them live with an audience for the first time in the Triskel Arts Centre (another 17th-century church with a crypt). This first performance was captured as a live recording for a future EP release.
Acknowledging that these new songs would not get the attention they deserved without a studio album, the fully independent artist successfully raised the recording and marketing budget through fan crowdfunding. Two new tracks evolved from the Paris sessions and were added to the studio recording featuring J Smith and Mik Pyro. All studio tracks were recorded using live instrumentation with experienced jazz session players who have played with ZASKA for years.
NECTAR, the third studio album from ZASKA, was released on June 5, 2026.
What We Had (feat. shiv)
Ever Cross Your Mind (feat. Melina Malone) Live At The Triskel
The Papez (feat. jarjarjr)
Into You (feat. shiv)
BAND
Max Zaska - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Neil Dorrington - Bass
Dylan Lynch - Drums, Percussion
Luke Howard - Piano, Synthesizer
James Smith - Synthesizer, Percussion, Additional Backing Vocals
Paul Kiernan - Trumpet
Denis Scully - Saxophone
Krists Liepa - Trombone
Danny Groenland - Flute on No Right Time, Wanna Go, Ever Cross Your Mind
Louis Yonge - Violin on No Right Time
PRODUCTION
Producers: Max Zaska, James Smith
Arranger / Bandleader: Max Zaska
Recording Engineer: James Smith (Hellfire Studio; Canalside Studio)
Vocal Recording Engineers: James Smith (Big Mac Studio), Max Zaska (Canalside Studio)
Mixing Engineer: James Smith
Mastering Engineer: Ivan Jackman
Recorded and produced in Ireland
VOCALISTS
shiv
Links, Bio & Photos
Melina Malone
Links, Bio & Photos
Gemma Dunleavy
Links, Bio & Photos
jarjarjr
Links, Bio & Photos
Mik Pyro
Links, Bio & Photos
J Smith
Links, Bio & Photos
CO-WRITERS
1. What We Had by Max Zaska, Siobhan McClean, Kean Kavanagh, Patrick Groenland
2. No Right Time by Max Zaska, Melina Malone
3. The Papez by Max Zaska, Robert O Halloran
4. So Many Things by Max Zaska, Michael Tierney, Dylan Lynch
5. Wanna Go by Max Zaska, Gemma Dunleavy
6. Blockbuster by Max Zaska, James Smith
7. Into You by Max Zaska, Siobhan McClean, Kean Kavanagh, Patrick Groenland
8. Ever Cross Your Mind by Max Zaska, Melina Malone, Patrick Groenland
9. Play The Game by Max Zaska, Robert O Halloran
10. Dust by Max Zaska, Siobahn McClean, Gemma Dunleavy
11. Do It Again by Max Zaska, Gemma Dunleavy