Amir Elsaffar - New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal

New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal documents the initial encounter between trumpeter Amir ElSaffar's trio, consisting of Tomas Fujiwara, one of NYC's most in-demand and dynamic drummers, and Ole Mathisen, a tenor saxophonist of unparalleled technique and versatility, with Greek pianist Tania Giannouli, a rising star who has headlined almost every major jazz festival and venue in Europe over the past several years.

ElSaffar’s nuanced and vibrant trumpet sound, rooted in Chicago school classical technique, combining subtle ornamentation and microtones of Arab Maqam with Jazz influences ranging from Miles to Woody Shaw, resonates throughout the session, guiding the new ensemble into unexplored musical territories. The music ranges from intensely quiet and nearly silent to ecstatic and declamatory, with the microtonal piano ringing ear-opening and beautifully unconventional harmonies throughout.

The four musicians had a mini-residency consisting of two rehearsal days, a concert, and an all day recording session at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, a hall known for its phenomenal acoustics and legacy of its namesake, 20th century pioneer conductor and composer Pierre Boulez.

The live recording showcases vulnerability, wonder, and a sense of discovery, as the quartet navigates ElSaffar's material –– composed only three days earlier –– in front of a sold out audience. The results, a patiently flowing, spacious and graceful kind of jazz that is seeded profoundly with Maqam influences, left listeners at the edge of their seats. Musical gestures seemed to reveal themselves beyond the control of the musicians, who were discovering it along with the audience. The following day’s recording session allowed the musicians an opportunity to refine and hone in on the musical ideas, resulting in cleaner and more confident versions of the compositions, but it's the live concert that contains the magic and ineffable energy that makes up the bulk of this album. Vulnerable as these recordings may be, they are also marked by a stunning and surefooted elegance, truly remarkable considering the conditions, especially with respect to Giannouli’s enchanting and powerful microtonal and prepared piano work.

ElSaffar is known for his Two Rivers sextet and 17-piece Rivers of Sound Orchestra, both of which blend Middle Eastern and jazz instrumentation. At the outset, this album’s ensemble looks like a traditional jazz setting, except for one anomaly - the absence of a bass instrument. This is by design: with the unique resonances of the microtonal piano, and ElSaffar and Mathisen’s well-honed blend of two instruments into one sound, rich and nuanced timbres and harmonies are able to ring out, unencumbered with pitch information in the low registers. The bass-less context also allows Fujiwara and Giannouli to find interesting polyrhythms and grooves, further encouraged by ElSaffar’s written material that leaves the rhythmic aspects open.