NEW QUARTET LIVE AT PIERRE BOULEZ SAAL

Description

Amir ElSaffar (born in 1977, United States) is a composer, trumpeter, singer, santur player, and modular synthesizer artist whose innovative compositions blend elements of jazz, classical music, and traditional Arabic music. His new label, Maqam Records, released his first album earlier this year, Maqam Al-Iraq, featuring the legendary singer 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 of the European jazz scene, alongside his New York-based collaborators: acclaimed drummer and bandleader Tomas Fujiwara, and saxophonist Ole Mathisen, who is also a member of ElSaffar's Two Rivers and Rivers of Sound orchestras. The quartet fuses Arabic maqam with jazz harmony and features microtonal and prepared piano. In addition to the concert itself, the album includes alternative takes that were recorded at Pierre Boulez Saal the following day without an audience.