Alchemy by Amir ElSaffar

Alchemy is another chapter in trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s continuing investigation into the tonal systems of Middle Eastern cultures within a jazz context. A recipient of the prestigious Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, ElSaffar resided mostly in Egypt prior to making this record, further absorbing the musical language of that region. However, unlike his three prior releases on Pi Recordings – Two Rivers (2007) and Inana (2011), which relied heavily on the Iraqi maqam for their structural form and instrumentation; and Radif Suite (2009) with saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh, which utilized a musical system devised specifically for that group – Alchemy finds ElSaffar writing for a standard jazz quintet with a sound distilled through his highly personal harmonic vocabulary, one that draws on microtonality and the maqam.

Iraqi-American trumpeter, santurist, vocalist, and composer, ElSaffar uses Middle Eastern and American jazz to create new techniques to ornament that are idiomatic to Arabic music. He performs classical Iraqi maqam music, and is active in the US, Europe and the Middle East as a vocalist and santur player. His compositions use microtones from maqam music to uniquely approach harmony and melody.