By Stef Gijssels
We have steadily reviewed American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s work before on this blog, and always full of admiration for merging Middle-Eastern composition with jazz. Of Iraqi descent, ElSaffar integrated the musical legacy of his father into his Western musical education. On this album, he performs with electronic sound artist Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch, who works for dance and theater, and who’s also professor of Electroacoustic Composition at the Conservatory of Montbeliard, France. His bio mentions his artistic endeavour to incorporate movement and space in 3D sound, multichannel and holophonic composition.
The interaction between both artists works to perfection. This is not free improvisation – readers should be warned – but carefully planned compositions with significant room for improvisation. ElSaffar has created a unique microtonal language that merges the Arabic maqam modal system with jazz and Western harmonies. To ElSaffar’s credit, he keeps searching for new sounds and presenting them too. His eclectic knowledge of different musical traditions, his brilliant instrumental technique and his compositional power make it stand out as music with a unique voice, difficult to put into any musical category. Bianchi Hoesch’s live electronics create more than just depth or background to ElSaffar’s trumpet and singing, driving up the intensity, building walls of sound full of rhythm, or quiet flowing sounds that set the slow pace for some of the most beautiful moments of the album.
ElSaffar’s singing in Arabic will not be for everyone to appreciate – as we are usually less familiar with the quartertone singing, the vibratos and the language – but I can only encourage you to open your ears and listen to the depth and authenticity of the delivery, something he does even better on trumpet.
On “Pas de Deux“, he switches to santur, a hammered dulcimer, creating a sensitive and subdued sound that gives Bianchi Hoesch the opportunity to (re)create his own expression of previously sonic bits from ElSaffar’s trumpet.
The real power piece on the album is the eleven minute long “Spirits“, which not only demonstrates the absolute purity and warmth of his trumpet playing, but also the compositional and rhythmic complexities of different musical styles, building up from the quiet intro to a more intense 10/16 rhythm, when he sings, followed by a key and rhythm change into jazz harmonies.
So am not sure how you could catalogue this music. There are “nu jazz” affiliations, reminiscent of Nils Petter Molvaer, there are possible associations with Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, but this is as far as it goes. ElSaffar does create his own sound. I will let you judge for yourself. Regardless of style and genre, it’s impressive.
Listen and enjoy.
A live version of the album can be viewed in its entirety here: Live at Festival Aperto 2024, Teatro Valli, Reggio Emilia, Italy
