The Amir Elsaffar Quintet

The Amir ElSaffar Quintet “Cultures converge to exquisite effect in trumpeter ElSaffar’s indelible recording … some of the most shimmering, subtle work of ElSaffar’s career.” -Howard Reich, The Chicago Tribune “It is, at once, modern and ancient—something you’ve heard all your life and something brand new.” -Frank Alkyer, Downbeat Magazine The Amir ElSaffar Quintet with its recent release, Alchemy, represents the latest chapter in trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s continuing investigation into the tonal systems of the Arab world and Middle East within a jazz context. The ensemble performs ElSaffar’s compositions, ranging from highly microtonal, with ElSaffar’s unique harmonies extracted from the non-tempered pitches of the Maqam, to those drawing on an ancient Babylonian/Sumerian modal system, all within the context of standard jazz instrumentation. Looking back to the ancient and forward to innovative sonic possibilities, the band tackles this challenging music with dynamic intensity, rhythmic drive, and creative aplomb. ElSaffar’s quintet is made up of some of the top improvising musicians in New York: John Escreet (piano) is an innovative and adventurous pianist with seven albums under his name; Francois Moutin (bass), leader of the Moutin Reunion Quartet, who plays with unparalleled technique, redefining the role of his instrument; Dan Weiss (drums), who leads his own trio, and plays with Lee Konitz, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Miguel Zenon, Dave Binney and countless others; and tenor saxophonist Ole Mathisen, a master of microtonal playing who contributes beautifully controlled and technically dazzling playing, serving as the perfect foil to ElSaffar on the front line. www.amirelsaffar.com website: http://amirelsaffar.com/quintet audio: Ishtarum Quartal video: Ishtarum Alchemy (2013) available now on Pi Recordings. Praise for "Alchemy" "… trying to count is harder but finally unnecessary. Better to get swept up in the pensive solos cooked up by ElSaffar and tenor/soprano saxophonist Ole Mathisen... “12 Cycles” could almost be called a Middle Eastern “So What,” with each of the dozen variations in pitch and rhythm introduced before trumpet and soprano skillfully take one chorus each to build on them. The microtonal variations in pitch are most noticeable in “Quartal,” even in John Escreet’s piano, creating one of the disc’s most intriguing themes. After those more conceptual works, “Athar Kurd” wouldn’t have been out of place on an adventurous Blue Note album circa 1965. ElSaffar’s choice of intervals and Moutin’s rapid double- stop strumming is more of this century, but there’s something indelibly linked to jazz’s past in the feel." - Mike Shanley, Jazz Times (full article) www.amirelsaffar.com "It's easy to get buried in talk of alternate tunings, micro-tones and music theory, but it's a credit to ElSaffar and his nimble band that the music never sounds academic. ElSaffar's expansion of that idea reveals something new, but it's telling how rich and inviting the music remains. Ultimately it's a sound that renders our world a much smaller place, and it's that much richer for it." - Chris Barton, LA Times (full article) "ElSaffar's new album Alchemy is a step forward in defining and refining his concept. In "Quartal," in particular, ElSaffar and tenor saxophonist Ole Mathisen play those quarter tones so precisely, they make a freshly tuned piano sound exotic." - Kevin Whitehead, NPR.org (full article) "Here’s a fascinating thesis on the link between ancient music and modern music that you can actually enjoy with your ears instead of slogging through it with your eyes." - S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews (full article) "Alchemy is a prime example of fine musicianship, coupled with a strong pioneering spirit; Amir ElSaffar has once again proved that his artistry is ever improving and is always capable bringing something fresh to the ear." - Cairo 360 (full article) "His new quintet album, Alchemy, stays within the jazz idiom while pushing the envelope with Middle Eastern themes, melodies and technique as well as employing western classical architecture. …one of the most successfully ambitious albums of recent months, full of disquieting energy and a contender for best of 2013." - Lucid Culture (full article) Amir ElSaffar Iraqi-American trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and composer Amir ElSaffar has distinguished himself with a mastery of disparate musical styles and a singular approach to combining aspects of Middle Eastern music with American jazz, extending the boundaries of each tradition. A skilled jazz trumpeter with a classical background, ElSaffar has created new techniques to play microtones and ornaments that are idiomatic to Arabic music but are not typically heard on the trumpet. Additionally, he is an acknowledged performer of the classical Iraqi maqam tradition, and performs actively in the US, Europe and the Middle East as a vocalist and santur player. As a composer, ElSaffar has used the microtones found in maqam music to create a unique approach to harmony and melody, www.amirelsaffar.com establishing himself as an important voice in an age of cross-cultural music making. ElSaffar has received grants to compose music from Chamber Music America, the Jazz Institute of Chicago, the Jerome Foundation, Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT), and the Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia. Born near Chicago in 1977 to an Iraqi immigrant father and an American mother, ElSaffar heard recordings of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Blues Brothers Soundtrack at a young age from his father’s record collection. He received his first musical training in the Lutheran Church Choir at the school he attended, and his mother taught him to sing and play American folk songs on ukulele and guitar when he was nine. ElSaffar found his calling with the trumpet at the age of 10, and by his late teens began performing professionally throughout the Chicago area with blues, jazz, rock, and salsa bands, as well as with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, where he worked with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Daniel Barenboim. In 1999, he performed on Barenboim’s Teldec release, “Tribute to Ellington,” with members of the Chicago Symphony. In 2000, after completing a degree in classical trumpet from DePaul University, he moved to New York, where had opportunities to work with jazz legend Cecil Taylor, in addition to musicians of his generation such as Rudresh Mahanthappa and Vijay Iyer, who incorporated the music of their cultural backgrounds into a jazz context. In 2001, ElSaffar won the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Competition, and the following year used the funds to begin an intensive study of the Iraqi Maqam, in addition to other forms of Arabic music. He went on a five-year journey, traveling to Iraq, throughout the Middle East, and to Europe, pursuing masters who could impart to him this centuries-old oral tradition. He soon became versed in maqam, learning to play the santur (Iraqi hammered dulcimer) and to sing, and in 2006 founded Safaafir, the only ensemble in the US performing Iraqi Maqam in its traditional format. Later the same year, ElSaffar received commissions from the Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia and from the Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT), to compose Two Rivers, a suite that invokes Iraqi musical traditions and frames them in a modern Jazz setting. ElSaffar has since received commissions from the Jerome Foundation, the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and Chamber Music America and has continued developing a singular approach to integrating Middle Eastern tonalities and rhythms into an American jazz context, releasing three albums, Two Rivers (2006), Radif Suite (2010), and Inana (2011) to critical acclaim. He has also composed for theater projects and film soundtracks, and appeared in Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-nominated film, Rachel Getting Married. In addition to his busy performance schedule, ElSaffar curates a weekly concert series at Alwan for the Arts, New York’s premiere center for Middle Eastern arts and culture, and directs Columbia University’s Middle Eastern Music Ensemble. www.amirelsaffar.com More press for Amir ElSaffar “More fully realized than many similar ethnic fusions, ElSaffar’s incorporation of maqam’s microtones, flexible pitches and meter-less bar lines yields a highly personalized language that reaches well beyond the confines of Western pedagogy for inspiration…Gracefully poised between two worlds, Inana builds upon ElSaffar’s previous accomplishments, establishing an impressive precedent for the creative possibilities of a new global jazz aesthetic.” - Troy Collins, All About Jazz (full article) “The music deftly combines jazz and Middle Eastern music in a unique way, finding common ground in improvisation… ElSaffar’s studies in both jazz and ethnic music have placed him in good stead to carve out a unique place in the current improvised music. His music and musicial concept is clearly evolving, and this is a very exciting development.” - Tim Niland, Jazz and Blues (full article) “Amir ElSaffar is uniquely poised to reconcile jazz and Arabic music without doing either harm…ElSaffar’s music [is] the result of engagement across the board, presented with clarity and eloquence.” - The Wire “Even before you’re impressed with the innovative nature of this album you’ll be struck by the seamlessness with which ElSaffar combines two separate musical traditions while remaining true to the highest aesthetic dictates of each. These pieces are elegant,

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