Isfar Rzayev (born November 2, 1989, Baku), better known as Isfar Sarabski, is an Azerbaijani jazz pianist. He is the great-grandson of opera singer Huseyngulu Sarabski.
He began playing the piano at the age of seven. He studied classic piano for eleven years at the Bulbul Music School. Currently Sarabski is in his second year at the Baku Music Academy (National Conservatoire) and is a recipient of Presidential scholarship. Sarabski has performed at Baku Caspian Jazz and Blues Festival in Azerbaijan several times, participated in the annual Sildajazz festival in Norway, as well as at the International Jazz Festival in Russia. He has also been awarded at Stars of Issyk-kul; New names of Russia International Classical and National Music Festival in Kyrgyzstan in 2004. Early influences included Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. His favourite performers Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Vagif Mustafazadeh have inspired him to compose his own pieces.
On July 18, 2009 Isfar became a winner at the 43rd Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.