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TRILOK GURTU AND TIGRAN HAMASYAN TEAM UP FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL SHOW
Jazzwise magazine
Sept 27 2011
At a concert that marked 20 years of Armenian independence pianist
Tigran Hamasyan, already a rising solo star on the international jazz
circuit, performed on Saturday night with Indian master percussionist
Trilok Gurtu at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
The concert opened with another musician, another Tigran, playing
solo doudouk ("Armenian oboe" woodwind) in traditional dress, in
the classical style with wondrous reverb that transported you the
2,000 miles to a country that has often been a tragic hostage to its
geography and history. As the Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan wrote,
the Armenian grief, representing an eternal search, "looks for the
shore blue and serene, where sometimes, it wearily dives deeply/
Looking for fathomless rest."
Gurtu was on next after this serious and beautifully delivered
opening. Absent from the London concert hall stage for a few years
he was surrounded by a large well-lit array of percussion featuring
his trademark tablas, goblet drum, cymbals, small percussion, and
signature bucket of water. The last time Jazzwise reviewed the great
Mumbai master, an important and stimulating figure on the international
jazz scene since his early days in the 1970s with the late Charlie
Mariano, was at the Jazz Cafe in Camden two years ago (bit.ly/oYiEux).
Turning 60 on the penultimate day of October this QEH concert was a
great chance to catch Gurtu before the celebrations begin in earnest
in the company of a new musical star in the making. Gurtu's solo set
was a typically robust affair characterised by a strict attention to
detail from the tips of his fingers to the toes of his feet and the
five elements he wished to represent were portrayed, that as ever with
Gurtu told a story in music rather than as only a drum or percussion
solo ("I'm the fire," he anticipated with a smile in case anyone in
the audience wondered).
Tigran Hamasyan, born in 1987 in the Armenian city of Gyumri, won the
prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in the US five years
ago and has just released his fourth album as a leader, the fine
solo effort A Fable. Tigran played on his own and then Gurtu came
back and the pair traded both vocal and percussive improvisations
while Tigran shone on 'What The Waves Brought' particularly and the
mystical Armenian folk melodies that he ably melds with jazz lines.
You can't help but think of a period in Keith Jarrett's development
when Jarrett was influenced by the Armenian mystic Gurdjieff and
released Sacred Hymns. But Tigran, who moved to the States with his
family as a young man, was inspired in contrast to Jarrett by the
poet Tumanyan referred to earlier and has a great emerging talent
already capable of approaching what Jarrett began to achieve in the
1970s. The concert however was let down by a good deal of showboating
and while Tigran may not want to be a rock star he has the technique,
ideas - and a good look helps - to play anything he wants to, and so
the direction of his music will be both fascinating to follow but also
difficult to predict. If he comes back to the UK any time soon snap
up a ticket, you won't regret the melancholic but wondrous sounds of
Tigran, and his intuitive jazz improvising. - Stephen Graham
http://jazzwisemagazine.com/news-mainmenu-139/68-2011/12059-jazz-breaking-news-trilok-gurtu-and-tigran-hamasyan-team-up-for-queen-elizabeth-hall-show-
Jazzwise magazine
Sept 27 2011
At a concert that marked 20 years of Armenian independence pianist
Tigran Hamasyan, already a rising solo star on the international jazz
circuit, performed on Saturday night with Indian master percussionist
Trilok Gurtu at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
The concert opened with another musician, another Tigran, playing
solo doudouk ("Armenian oboe" woodwind) in traditional dress, in
the classical style with wondrous reverb that transported you the
2,000 miles to a country that has often been a tragic hostage to its
geography and history. As the Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan wrote,
the Armenian grief, representing an eternal search, "looks for the
shore blue and serene, where sometimes, it wearily dives deeply/
Looking for fathomless rest."
Gurtu was on next after this serious and beautifully delivered
opening. Absent from the London concert hall stage for a few years
he was surrounded by a large well-lit array of percussion featuring
his trademark tablas, goblet drum, cymbals, small percussion, and
signature bucket of water. The last time Jazzwise reviewed the great
Mumbai master, an important and stimulating figure on the international
jazz scene since his early days in the 1970s with the late Charlie
Mariano, was at the Jazz Cafe in Camden two years ago (bit.ly/oYiEux).
Turning 60 on the penultimate day of October this QEH concert was a
great chance to catch Gurtu before the celebrations begin in earnest
in the company of a new musical star in the making. Gurtu's solo set
was a typically robust affair characterised by a strict attention to
detail from the tips of his fingers to the toes of his feet and the
five elements he wished to represent were portrayed, that as ever with
Gurtu told a story in music rather than as only a drum or percussion
solo ("I'm the fire," he anticipated with a smile in case anyone in
the audience wondered).
Tigran Hamasyan, born in 1987 in the Armenian city of Gyumri, won the
prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in the US five years
ago and has just released his fourth album as a leader, the fine
solo effort A Fable. Tigran played on his own and then Gurtu came
back and the pair traded both vocal and percussive improvisations
while Tigran shone on 'What The Waves Brought' particularly and the
mystical Armenian folk melodies that he ably melds with jazz lines.
You can't help but think of a period in Keith Jarrett's development
when Jarrett was influenced by the Armenian mystic Gurdjieff and
released Sacred Hymns. But Tigran, who moved to the States with his
family as a young man, was inspired in contrast to Jarrett by the
poet Tumanyan referred to earlier and has a great emerging talent
already capable of approaching what Jarrett began to achieve in the
1970s. The concert however was let down by a good deal of showboating
and while Tigran may not want to be a rock star he has the technique,
ideas - and a good look helps - to play anything he wants to, and so
the direction of his music will be both fascinating to follow but also
difficult to predict. If he comes back to the UK any time soon snap
up a ticket, you won't regret the melancholic but wondrous sounds of
Tigran, and his intuitive jazz improvising. - Stephen Graham
http://jazzwisemagazine.com/news-mainmenu-139/68-2011/12059-jazz-breaking-news-trilok-gurtu-and-tigran-hamasyan-team-up-for-queen-elizabeth-hall-show-