Taken from the website of Amir ElSaffar :
The new work Crisis, commissioned by the Newport Jazz Festival, is
ElSaffar’s reflection on a region in turmoil and strife: revolution,
civil war, sectarian violence; a culture’s struggle for survival.

“★★★★★…what
ElSaffar is doing on Crisis is unique in music…from a political and
historical vantage point, the task of narrating complex global events
through instrumental music is more than challenging. ElSaffar has not
only commendably told this personal and globally important story but has
produced a masterpiece of a recording in doing so.” – Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz.

Arabic music and jazz are blended together by this ensemble led by singer/trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, who has collaborated with Cecil Taylor, Vijay Iyer en Marc Ribot.

The mysticism of Iraqi music melt together with contemporary jazz in the Two Rivers Ensemble, in which renowned players from New York are joined by Arabic musicians. Key figure is the American/Iraqi Amir ElSaffar (trumpet/santoor/vocals), who elicits the subtlest microtones and embellishments from his phrasing, with great flexibility. ElSaffar has performed with Cecil Taylor, Vijay Iyer and Marc Ribot. His six-piece Two Rivers Ensemble sounds spectacularly innovative and holds star players such as saxophonist Ole Mathisen and drummer Nasheet Waits, known from among others Jason Moran’s Bandwagon.

American magazine Downbeat reviewed the Two Rivers Ensemble concert as one of the highlights of the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival. British magazine The Wire: ‘Amir ElSaffar is uniquely poised to reconcile jazz and Arabic music without doing either harm… It’s the result of engagement across the board, presented with clarity and eloquence.’

 ****1/2 Downbeat review on ElSaffars recent cd Crisis (on webpage of November Music, scroll down a bit for the review in English). Also, the review in the JazzTimes.

The Bimhuis restaurant
is open prior to the concert from 6.30 till 8.30PM (reservations via
020-7882158). After the concert, the Bimhuis Café is open (free
entrance).

Amir ElSaffar trompet/santoor/zang, Ole Mathisen sax, Dafer Tawil ud/percussie, Tareq Abboushi buzuq, Carlo DeRosa contrabas, Stéphane Galland drums