Tigran Hamasyan - StandArt

May 26, 2022

Label: Nonesuch Records, 2022

Personnel - Tigran Hamasyan: piano; Matt Brewer: bass, Justin Brown: drums; Mark Turner: tenor saxophone (#3); Joshua Redman: tenor saxophone (#4); Ambrose Akinmusire: trumpet (#7,8).

The resourceful Armenian-American pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan commands a recently formed trio featuring bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Justin Brown. The new album trades in intricate, state-of-the-art originals for acoustic renditions of jazz standards. To spice things up, he invites prominent horn players to join him in a selection of tunes delivered whether in duo or quartet format.

The flavors are fabulously diverse, and the album, aptly titled StandArt, starts off with “De-Dah”, a sympathetic hard-bop number composed by pianist Elmo Hope and made famous by the brilliant trumpeter Clifford Brown in the ‘50s. The odd-metered trio version we find here denotes an incredible rhythmic control and improvisatory stamina. The chilled-out take on “I Didn’t Know What Time it Was” is also delivered in trio, but Hamasyan lends a more vibrant rock muscularity packed with submerged hooks on “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise”. His improvisations are constructed around the mood of the tunes, but on “Laura”, he defies this idea by turning David Raskin’s ballad into pure rhythmic ecstasy.

The contemplative, dreamy ambience of the re-harmonized “All the Things You Are”, a duet with Mark Turner, is fully embraced by the saxophonist, whereas Joshua Redman projects his supple tenor lines over the swinging excitement of Charlie Parker’s “Big Foot”. Here, Hamasyan shows how refined his jazz idioms can be.

The extraordinary trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire steals our attention in two pieces: “I Should Care”, an intimate duet with the pianist in which their wistful sounds overlap, blend and spill into each other; and “Invasion During an Operetta”, a quartet improv bathed in abstraction.

With jazz tradition as its point of departure, this is a different Hamasyan recording. It’s definitely not a tour de force like the previous The Call Within (2020), but is still demonstrative of the boldness so intrinsically linked to this pianist’s work.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - De-Dah ► 04 - Big Foot ► 07 - I Should Care

Tigran Hamasyan - The Call Within

December 17, 2020

Label: Nonesuch, 2020

Personnel - Tigran Hamasyan: piano, keyboards; Evan Marien: bass; Arthur Hnatek: drums. Guest artists: Tosin Abasi: guitar; Areni Agbabian: vocals; Artyom Manukyan: cello.

After two consecutive solo albums, namely An Ancient Observer (2017) and For Gyumri (2018), Armenian pianist/composer Tigran Hamasyan returns to the trio format on The Call Within, his sixth album for Nonesuch and the most fascinating thus far. Pairing up with American electric bassist Evan Marien and Swiss drummer Arthur Hnatek, Hamasyan delves deeper into dreamlike inner states, nudging the band into uncharted realms while drawing inspiration from astrology, maps from ancient eras, geometry, divine mysteries, ancient Armenian design and folklore, and many more.

The album provides several highlights encrusted with technical acuity, and “Levitation 21” couldn’t have opened the album in a better way. Incantatory chants are set against a relaxed piano-driven background; yet, on top of that, the energetic rhythmic thrust of Marien and Hnatek creates a polyrhythmic feel that completely dazzles. It’s a beautiful piece indeed, with effortless transitions in which the ethereal moods of folk and classical contrast with the powerful dynamism of progressive jazz and rock.

The eclecticism of these pieces is tremendous, and “Vortex”, a dancing astral exaltation that starts chunky at first and then becomes fluid as water, can be described as a rich stew of avant-jazz boldness, prog-metal trappings and electronica-inflected riffs.

The visionary blast of expressionism of “Our Film” contains passages propelled by squirreling beat and some others that verge on the contemplative. Featuring a pair of guests - Areni Agbabian on vocals and Artyom Manukyan on cello - this rhythmically astute piece is arranged with loops and tenacious piano moves that lean on the heavy rock stripe.

Chordal dexterity and synth beams populate “Ara Resurrected”, where Hamasyan adheres to the textural detail created by bass and drums, packing a punch with machinelike precision while exploring variable intensities. There's a sharp focus on the pianist’s melodic and rhythmic works, proving why he is considered an innovator by many. The tempestuous drumming of Hnatek comes to prominence here, as well as on “Space of Your Existence”, where he delays tempo a bit to further hype a puzzling groove.

Featuring guitarist Tosin Abasi from progressive metal band Animals as Leaders, “37 Newlyweds” goes back to the candor of traditional folk chants with a world fusion posture, whereas the closer, “New Maps”, shoves us into a scintillating, Vijay Iyer-esque web of nu jazz where no one should be indifferent.

These expertly structured frameworks are designed with imagination and a perfect sense of direction. I hope they provide the same exhilarating listening experience for you as they provided for me.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Levitation 21 ► 02 - Our Film ► 10 - New Maps

Tigran Hamasyan - Atmospheres

March 6, 2017

Tigran Hamasyan: piano; Arve Henriksen: trumpet; Eivind Aarset: guitar; Jan Bang: sampling.

Tigran Hamasyan is an Armenian pianist and composer whose unparalleled music is strongly built with elements of folk music from his country of origin.
The double-disc Atmosphéres, his ninth album and the second for the ECM label, has a trio of Norwegians in its lineup: Arve Henriksen on trumpet, Eivind Aarset on guitar, and Jan Bang on sampling.

Just by considering the instruments involved in this recording, one may expect to find accessible or even conventional music. But that’s not the case since Hamasyan’s compositions go beyond the expected. Moreover, Henriksen and Aarsen use their instruments in peculiar ways. The trumpeter, whose career has been highly influenced by minimal Japanese music, often sounds like a flutist. The guitarist, a manipulator of sound in the true sense of the word, opts to draw soft textural layers at every stroke.

The 15 pieces that populate this artistic work are divided into two subsets. The first comprises 10 originals from the quartet entitled “Traces”. The remaining five are compositions by Komitas, an Armenian priest, musicologist, and composer who is considered the founder of the Armenian national school of music.

The original compositions vary considerably in tone and structure. “Traces I” and “Traces III” are both gently textured. The first part maintains a dreamy atmosphere along the way while the third is a weeping song.
“Traces II” is far more provocative in its conception, moving straight ahead through stirring sequences of piano notes and floating trumpet melodies. It contrasts with “Traces IV”, which asks for a meditation with the sunset on the horizon, and “Traces X”, a darker song that arrives from somber realms.

“Traces VI” and “Traces VII” are great avant-garde compositions. The former brings some madness and the right amount of ambiguity to an instrumental conversation; the latter, is oddly percussive, strategically layered, and becomes minimalist as it moves forward.
The airy “Tsirani Tsar” and the meticulous “Shushiki”, both by Komitas, are inevitably strong highlights.

Through the erudite interpretations of the quartet, we are able to experience a different culture and apprehend its sounds. It’s almost as if we were physically visiting another world. Once there, we can’t escape the dazzle caused by exotic scents and the sight of stunning landscapes.
Atmosphéres will reward those who don’t give up at the first listening.

Label: ECM, 2016
Favorite Tracks:
02 (cd1) – Tsirani Tsar ► 07 (cd1) – Traces VI ► 01 (cd2) – Traces VII