$15
Audio / Video
Gallery
About This Event
Minimum Age:
18+Doors Open:
10:00 PMShow Time:
10:30 PMDescription:
This is a first come seated event. Seating is limited and not guaranteed; please arrive early.
Artists
Amir ElSaffar/Hafez Modirzadeh Quartet CD Release: Radif Suite
This performance is in celebration of trumpeter Amir ElSaffar's second Pi Recordings release, Radif Suite, which features a quartet that he co-leads with tenor saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh. They are joined by world-renowned bassist Mark Dresser and master drummer, Alex Cline.
Radif Suite is an important new recording in the continuing advancement of jazz from the trumpeter Amir ElSaffar and tenor saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh. Both ElSaffar and Modirzadeh are of mixed heritage (Iraqi American and Iranian American, respectively) whose musical careers are dedicated to expressing their ancestral traditions within a highly personalized and creative jazz language. ElSaffar has spent years traveling abroad seeking out masters who could impart to him the Iraqi maqam tradition, and composed the highly acclaimed Two Rivers Suite (Pi Recordings, 2007), the first work joining Iraqi maqam with jazz. Modirzadeh had spent years under the guidance of Iranian master musician Mahmoud Zoufounoun and has developed his own “chromodal” approach, which brings together Persian modes, jazz, and other influences, into one cohesive system. Both ElSaffar and Modirzadeh have invented new techniques for their respective instrument in order to play middle eastern microtones and ornaments. By using alternate fingerings and masterful control of embouchure, they are able to break free of the boundaries of Western equal temperament into a new world of tonal orientation. This is innovative jazz in the best sense, using Middle Eastern music in a way to transform the idiom while still utilizing swing, driving improvisations, and a blues sensibility. In the process, ElSaffar and Modirzadeh are breaking down barriers and taking jazz to a whole new, and exciting, place.
Radif Suite is an important new recording in the continuing advancement of jazz from the trumpeter Amir ElSaffar and tenor saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh. Both ElSaffar and Modirzadeh are of mixed heritage (Iraqi American and Iranian American, respectively) whose musical careers are dedicated to expressing their ancestral traditions within a highly personalized and creative jazz language. ElSaffar has spent years traveling abroad seeking out masters who could impart to him the Iraqi maqam tradition, and composed the highly acclaimed Two Rivers Suite (Pi Recordings, 2007), the first work joining Iraqi maqam with jazz. Modirzadeh had spent years under the guidance of Iranian master musician Mahmoud Zoufounoun and has developed his own “chromodal” approach, which brings together Persian modes, jazz, and other influences, into one cohesive system. Both ElSaffar and Modirzadeh have invented new techniques for their respective instrument in order to play middle eastern microtones and ornaments. By using alternate fingerings and masterful control of embouchure, they are able to break free of the boundaries of Western equal temperament into a new world of tonal orientation. This is innovative jazz in the best sense, using Middle Eastern music in a way to transform the idiom while still utilizing swing, driving improvisations, and a blues sensibility. In the process, ElSaffar and Modirzadeh are breaking down barriers and taking jazz to a whole new, and exciting, place.