Tigran Hamasyan (piano/keys/vocal); Evan Marien (bass); Arthur Hnatek (drums)
The eagerly awaited fourth album on Nonesuch records from the 33-year old
Armenian piano messiah
Tigran, appearing here with a trio as for Mockroot (2015), rather
than solo as for his other Nonesuch albums For Gyumri (2018) and An Ancient Observer (2017), and on his date at Sage Two last year.
Tigran’s music is as
genre-defying as you could
ask for, and while
he has a distinct voice and is instantly recognisable, many readers here will instantly recognise it as “other” than
their familiar blues/bebop jazz tradition – indeed Tigran himself refers to it as “electro-acoustic
Armenian rock”! However, mainstream jazz luminaries are falling over
themselves to laud his genius and fearless forging
of his won distinct path. When Herbie Hancock says, “Now, Tigran, you are my teacher” that’s good
enough for me to give him a serious
listen.
Tigran evokes fanatical responses from a highly
knowledgeable following,
which is not unique in jazz circles but seems now to
be at an apex
of technical expertise and understanding, as well as level of devotion.
An example is the video
of Arthur Hnatek playing the drum part at the recording of the
track New Maps released on YouTube (ase date) which received 11,000 views (in a month). Transcriptions of
the piano, bass and
drum parts were posted
on YouTube within days, and with similarly high views. Transcriptions are time
consuming at the best of times, but for music of this complexity, and with note
by note video reveal, these
are works of art stemming from dedication beyond any human reason.
For what it’s worth, the
piece is analysed as either alternating
bars of 9/8 and 11/8, or as 20/16.
The in-house drummer tells me to think of it as “almost like 4/4 but with every 'crotchet' made
up of 5 beats rather than 4 semi quavers”.
While Tigran’s complex
rhythmic patterns and unfamiliar time signatures, with their origin in Armenian
folk and dance music with
a splash of prog-metal, provoke
glee and fascination with young
“Time Lords”, there
is, thankfully, far more to his music than mind-bending
technical virtuosity and precision. Tigran seems to operate on a spiritual plane transcending the usual
physical limits of instruments (think Mahavishnu or late Coltrane) - in his words “where the moment of the
unconscious creation is the way to feel conscious”.
His inspirations are drawn widely here from maps, poetry, Christian and pre-Christian Armenian folk
stories and legends, and
beyond!
This is all very well – but
what do the ten new compositions here sound like? There
is a sustained intensity and emotion well
beyond even Tigran’s norm,
so this is no casual, dinner party jazz album. Once any attempt to count through the bars is
abandoned, the pulse of the music drives and surges in an engaging (although never, to me, truly comfortable) groove, e.g. the opener 21 Levitation drives along in rhythmic groups of 21 (!). The
repetitive intensity and rhythmic
programmed precision of dissonant chords is dark, but
never angry, as much modern “prog” and “metal” sounds to my ears. Underneath the harsh trappings, there beats the
heart of a piano
trio, and ethereal melodies transcend the Sturm und Drang, often achieving peaceful , even
joyous, catharsis after the turmoil.
For every section of high
tempo repetitive grooving set
up by block chord piano,
with doubling on bass,
there are relaxed interludes of lyrical piano and synth on Space of Your Existence, and
even whistling on Our Film, augmented by vocals and cello.
The Dream Voyager and Old Maps evoke
more of Tigran’s alter
ego, less frenetic and with sustained legato allowing the haunting melodies to break through. The high energy returns for a prog-metal track, Vortex,
driven harder by guest Tosin Abasi on 8 string electric guitar.
37 Newlyweds is the
most relaxed track, with eastern chanting intoning ominously over chiming piano chords.
New Maps closes
out the album in some style,
and even has an art house video to match. After
a while the fluctuating and
cyclical beat is hypnotically relaxing - sit back and say goodbye to 4:4!
Overall a stunning new statement
by Tigran and his
remarkable band, who give as good as they get, further charting his unique path -
not entirely removed from the mainstream tradition but sitting across other
folk, classical and rock in
spiritual and technical communion.
Not for the fainthearted or
those wedded to the familiar perhaps, but as an initial sceptic, I’d recommend investing in some listening, as the rewards are deep and intense.
Chris K
Release date August 28. Preview and pre-order
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