By Stef Gijssels
American trumpet player with Iraqi roots Amir ElSaffar brings us his second album of the year, after “Inner Spaces” (Ornithology, 2025) with Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch. This album, a quartet with Ole Mathisen – from Norway – on sax, Tania Giannouli – from Greece – on piano and Tomas Fujiwara – from the US – on drums, is equally rooted in Middle-Eastern scales, yet leaning closer to jazz.
The compositional material was penned only three days before the performance, sketchy outlines of each piece, rehearsed with the quartet for two days, and then performed. Not only the musical ideas in the composition, the spontaneity with which they are performed, but also the tightness and freedom of the interaction are excellent. It’s one of those albums that you can listen to again and again, that is full of surprising sounds, with a great variety between contemplative and extraverted moments, always intense and with a story to tell. Especially the longest piece, “Orientations I -V” is wonderful, which in its suite-like structure, also allows for dissonant chords, a-rhythmic percussion and other sounds that counter the core narrative, yet through the many voices and moments of distress a theme emerges, powerful, infectious and compelling.
On “Le Marteau de la Maîtresse” (the mistress’s hammer) the rhythm is mesmerising and the playing extremely sensitive, and also on that level all four musicians can demonstrate their natural sense of lyricism and subdued playing. “For the Victims of Genocide” is a calm, deeply emotional and sad piece, an atmosphere which is continued in the even sadder “Ghazalu” on which ElSaffar sings his beautiful Arab music, and even if you do not understand the language, the voice and the sound say it all.
The normal sequence of the album ends with “10.23 am”, an upbeat piece, both rhythmically and emotionally, with strong and fast unison lines and exuberant soloing, a live piece which is rewarded by a – rightfully – enthusiastic audience.
Three of the tracks get alternate takes, which is fun to compare how and where they differ.
Next to the incredible skills and interaction between the four stellar musicians is the wonderful sound quality of the “Pierre Boulez Saal” in Berlin, a modular space built in a 360° around the musicians, allowing almost equal distance to the music for all listeners.
Enjoy!
Listen and download from Bandcamp
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