The music by Iraqi-American trumpeter and singer Amir ElSaffar has a colorful character that is typical of the current New York avant-garde. His layered, narrative compositions have lots of room for improvisation and refer to manty styles including jazz and blues, but also Iraqi maqam, where the highest ideal is to completely reach a state of musical ecstasy.
In the Rivers of Sound Orchestra we see players of traditional Eastern instruments such as ud and darbuka alongside important jazz musicians: for example Aruán Ortiz, Jason Adasiewicz, Nasheet Waits and Fabrizio Cassol, who have played at the BIMHUIS before. Founder Amir ElSaffar plays in the band of Jamie Baum (1 November at BIMHUIS), he has been a member of Cecil Taylor’s ensembles and he collaborated with the likes of Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Craig Taborn.
Amir ElSaffar reached the first place in the Downbeat Critics Poll 2018 in no less than two categories: Rising Star Trumpet en Rising Star Arranger.
‘The music that he has composed for the 17-piece orchestra Rivers of Sound flows in a flux of ever-changing colors, with bold brass fanfares giving way to classically Middle Eastern-sounding strings and sinuous reed melodies evolving patiently over unhurried, swinging rhythms that are accented by the distinct tonality of frame drum and dumbek … a process of synthesis rather than addition’ (Downbeat, read the full interview here).
Lineup: Amir ElSaffar trumpet/santur/vocals, JD Parran clarinet/bass saxophone, Ole Mathisen soprano saxophone/tenor saxophone, Fabrizio Cassol alto saxophone, Dena ElSaffar violin, Naseem Alatrash cello, Tareq Abboushi buzuq, George Ziadeh oud/vocal, Dafer Tawil oud/percussion, Miles Okazaki guitar, Aruán Ortiz piano, Jason Adasiewicz vibraphone, Carlo DeRosa bass, Nasheet Waits drums, Tim Moore dumbek/frame drum, Rajna Swaminathan mrudangam