Amir ElSaffar - New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal

Amir ElSaffar
New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal
Maqām Records 2 

Amir ElSaffar (b. 1977, USA) is a composer, trumpeter, vocalist, santur player, and modular synthesizer artist whose innovative compositions blend elements of jazz, classical, and traditional Arabic music. His newly established label, Maqām Records, released its first album earlier this year, Maqam Al-Iraq, by legendary vocalist, Hamid Al-Saadi and is now following up with an album of ElSaffar’s work, New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal. Recorded live in Berlin in 2023, the album captures the ineffable magic of ElSaffar’s first encounter with Greek pianist Tania Giannouli, a star on the European jazz scene, alongside his NYC-based collaborators: acclaimed drummer and bandleader, Tomas Fujiwara, and saxophonist Ole Mathisen, who is also a featured member of ElSaffar’s Two Rivers and Rivers of Sound orchestra. The quartet merges Arabic maqām with jazz harmony and features microtonal and prepared piano. In addition to the concert itself, the album features alternate takes that were recorded at Pierre Boulez Saal the next day without an audience.

     Contains:
The Third Time
Autumn Comes 
Orientations 1-V 
Le Marteau de la Maitresse 
For the Victims of Genocide
Ghazalu 
Dignity 
10:23 am 

NEW SEALED LP