Tigran Hamasyan and his favourite standards

15 March 2023, 1:00

Tigran Hamasyan and his favourite standards

Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan has long been dedicated to either his own work or to the inspiration of Armenian folklore. It wasn't until his tenth album, StandArt, that he decided to work with jazz standards, compositions that work for most jazz musicians as basic preparation and as material that players from all over the world agree on when jamming together. The pianist will present his current album on Friday 24 March 2023 at the Sono Centre in Brno as part of the JazzFestBrno festival.

Although you compiled the album StandArt from jazz standards, you didn't choose mostly from the best-known ones. I even get the feeling that you had to look very deeply in the Great American Songbook.

Yes, you're absolutely right. But I have to say that I have a very personal relationship with all the songs I chose for the album, plus about thirty other jazz standards. They're all my favourite songs. I have personal memories attached to them and their melodies are special to me. For example, I Didn't Know What Time It Was has perhaps the most interesting melody of any standard ever, in my opinion. And it's the same with the others I've chosen. Once I had the songs selected, I played them repeatedly and thought about what arrangements I could give them. I didn't directly plan to release an album of jazz standards, although I suspected that might happen one day. But during the Covid era, I suddenly realized that I actually had a ready repertoire that I just needed to record. And I arranged many more standards.

American jazz musicians often record albums of standards early in their careers and often live with them for a long time. You came to the subject after nine albums of your own compositions or arrangements of Armenian songs. Do you think that's also why your approach to standards is different?

I think there is a difference, but again, working on arranging a jazz standard is not much different from arranging, for example, an Armenian folk song. It's different maybe because I have a form and a harmony to deal with, and that's because my work with harmony is not quite usual. So that's where it's different. But otherwise there really are similarities. I have to capture the basic essence of the song, which in most cases is the melody. Then I allow myself some artistic freedom, like when I arrange an Armenian folk song or when I compose my own composition.

In the beginning, jazz standards were mostly songs, especially musical or film songs. In instrumental performances – including yours – the words are lost. Are the original lyrics of these songs still important to you?

That's a very good point. Texts are really extremely important. The lyrics and the overall expression. For example, All The Things You Are is a happy love song. But just change the harmony a little bit and it becomes a little bit mysterious. I always try to explore the song a little bit more, to find out what the story is behind it. I want to know about the writer of the music and the lyricist. I want to know why or for whom he wrote his lyrics. For example, the lyricist of the song Laura had a very interesting story. She came from Europe from a Jewish family and immigrated to the United States during World War II. Then I come up with my own vision and only then do I really know what I want to do with the song, what story I want to tell with my arrangement.

The only song on the album, Invasion During an Operetta, is signed by you and your bandmates. What's the story behind it?

That's actually a bit of a hint. The piece was written as a collective improvisation of the whole band, but it's inspired by Sigmund Romberg's tune Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, which was written for an operetta. So it's a continuation of my work with well-known melodies, only in this case it's a collective improvisation inspired by this operetta and this particular song, which by the way you can also find on the album.

You recorded the basis of the album with a piano trio, but you invited wind players, saxophonists Mark Turner and Joshua Redman, and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusir as guests on some of the tracks. Why them?

Yes, I invited three guests to the album. They're all musicians I've wanted to record something with for a long time. I've had the opportunity to play with them on stage in the past, but we haven't been in the studio together yet. And I've never actually played with Mark before. But I was surprised how easy it was to get along with him. He was in Los Angeles at the time I was recording the album and he just had the time, so it worked out beautifully. I consider Mark Turner to be a great jazz visionary. I feel the same way about Joshua Redman, whose music I grew up on. I've listened to a lot of his recordings with Brad Mehldau and other albums, for example. Ambrose and I went to the same school again, and we've played a few gigs as a duo recently. We both liked it, so I invited him to play on two songs on the album. So I guess I would say that my dreams came true during that crazy lockdown period. Luckily everyone had time at the time, otherwise I would have been planning something like this for years.

And how did bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Justin Brown end up in your studio band?

I've been wanting to do something with Justin for a long time, and with Matt too. While I have some quality and interesting guests on the album, I needed the core trio to be very strong as well. Justin and Matt are both extremely talented musicians. There's something magical in the way they respond to my playing and the way they come up with their own ideas without getting in my way. It's not easy to find musicians like that. The energy that these two musicians exude is a great complement to my energy. We've really managed to build a very good trio and I hope we'll record something together.

Now you're on tour, during which you'll play in Brno. You don't have a brass section with you, and the rhythm section is also different, with Jonathan Pinson on drums and Rick Rosato on bass. So what will we hear at the concert?

We'll play the music that's on the album, but because it's a different band, it won't be the same as on the record. I'm yet to play my first gig with my new bandmates. If we were talking a day later, I could have said more. But Jonathan Pinson in particular is an extremely fine player who accompanied Mark Turner on his latest album. I know him from other recordings as well, but on this album in particular he's absolutely brilliant. That's why I'm glad we can play together. I think we'll get along really well.

Final question. Can you tell us what will be your eleventh album?

I don't want to reveal anything yet, but I have ideas in my head. All I can say is that this will be one of my most ambitious projects. But that's all I really want to say at the moment.

Tigran Hamasyan/ photo archive of the artist

Comments

Reply

No comment added yet..

Trains as a symbol of departure, arrival and return were the main theme of the second edition of the International Festival of Jewish Culture ŠTETL FEST, which took place at the end of August and beginning of September. The four-day program combined the historical events of Jewish citizens taken from Brno to concentration camps during World War II with the modern stories of Ukrainians who fled to the city from the war in their country. To commemorate these events, the Memorial to the Disappeared was unveiled at the opening of the festival at Brno's main railway station and visitors can see the exhibition entitled Stories from Ukraine in various Brno locations until the end of September. The final concert directed by the Škampa Quartet under the title Trains, held on Sunday 3 September at the Besední dům, was a meaningful end to the festival, during which the question of leaving and returning was musically and historically reinforced.  more

The Brno-based singer-songwriter Yana recorded her first album Journey of the Soul in Dublin, Ireland, and invited a number of top Irish musicians to join her in the studio.  more

The international group Ensemble Fantasmi, which focuses on older music and was founded by flautist Paul Leenhouts, performed in Olomouc, at the Znojmo Music Festival and also visited Brno during a small European tour. The group presented themselves to the audience on Monday 24 July at Červeny kostel, where they, along with the invited singers prepared vocal-instrumental works by Czech Baroque composers. The reviewed concert in the Hall of Merciful Brothers on 25 July, which was also the last night of the tour, was in the same spirit. Its subheading Musica Bohemica pointed to a varied programme consisting of instrumental works by Czech composers of the Baroque and Classical periods.  more

The trilogy of lute concerts at the chateau within the Concentus Moraviae International Music Festival concluded on the evening of Sunday, 18 June. Once again, the audience at the Ceremonial Hall of the Rájec nad Svitavou Castle saw performances by Ryosuke Sakamoto on the Renaissance lute and David Bergmüller on the Baroque lute. Both prepared their own recital for the audience, dedicated to the given historical period, finally joining their artistry at the end of the concert. There was also a slight change in the program of the Renaissance block, which was more than welcome given the expansion of the repertoire and the offer of interesting - often lesser-known - lute pieces.  more

For the fourth year in a row, audiences could visit the courtyard of Špilberk Castle and enjoy the dance art of the Ondráš Military Art Ensemble from Brno in a series called Evenings with Ondráš. This year, on the two days of 15 and 16 June, those interested once again saw the best that the company currently has to offer. Moreover, the concerts were fundraisers, with the money raised going to the Military Solidarity Fund. I will take a look at the second, Friday evening, during which Ondráš invited his friends from the Mladina ensemble of Pilsen to the stage.   more

The Concentus Moraviae International Music Festival has been underway in thirteen Moravian towns since the end of this May. The theme of the twenty-eighth edition, titled Between Kroměříž and Vienna, highlights the interconnectedness of the seat of the Olomouc archbishops and the Imperial Habsburg court. The concert held on Friday, 16 June in the reconstructed church of the Cistercian Abbey Porta Coeli, offered the audience a musical probe into the Moravian Baroque.  more

Although this year’s 28th edition of the Concentus Moraviae international music festival embraces the theme Between Kroměříž and Vienna, the three-day project Island of Lutes by virtuoso lutenist and guitarist Pierre Pitzl holds a special place in its program design. From 16 to 18 June, the lute, vihuela or baroque guitar brought life to the castle grounds in Lysice and Rájec-Jestřebí with performances of  works by Renaissance and early Baroque composers. The noteworthy culmination of the project was prepared by the organizers of the festival on Saturday, 17 June on the premises of the Rájce-Jestřebí Chateau. In addition to the vihuela and Baroque guitar player Pierre Pitzl, it also featured Renaissance lute player Ryosuke Sakamoto and theorbist David Bergmülller  more

For the twenty-eighth year running, the Concentus Moraviae International Music Festival presents dramaturgically varied and interpretively refined evenings set not only in concert halls, but also in courtyards and chateau salons, castle halls, basilicas, churches and synagogues. The theme of this year’s 28th edition is Between Kroměříž and Vienna. Vienna, the cultural centre of Europe, served as the seat of the Habsburg emperors, while Kroměříž was the home of the archbishops of Olomouc. The dramaturgy of this year’s edition was prepared by a trio of respected experts: the Dean of the JAMU Faculty of Music, harpsichordist, organist and musicologist Barbara Maria Willi; historian, musicologist and choirmaster Vladimír Maňas; and Otto Biba, Austrian musicologist and long-time director of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde archive.  more

The celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Brno’s Besední dům, which take place within its premises and elsewhere, have an interesting and distinguished dramaturgy that manages to transport the audience to the early days of this concert venue. Two concerts took place on 4 and 5 May and were entitled “Janáček” and “Horňácká muzika”. I took part in the first one; it was a truly momentous experience prepared by the Brno Philharmonic and Petr Mička’s Horňácká muzika. Friday’s repeat of the concert was broadcast by Czech Television. Both nights were sold out and standing tickets were even added to the sale.  more

The Brno Philharmonic’s headquarters and one of Brno’s most important historical and cultural landmarks – the Besední dům – celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Exactly on 3 April 1873, when the auditorium (great hall) of the building designed by architect Theophil von Hansen, author of the famous Musikverein in Vienna, was ceremonially opened, this magnificent building became the centre of Brno’s culture and its distinctive artistic life. A century and a half later – on Monday 1 May 2023 – an afternoon gathering and a subsequent concert entitled When Smetana First Played in Brno. . . will launch a series of concerts that pay tribute to unique milestones in the city’s cultural history.  more

Singer-songwriter Martina Trchová, winner of the Anděl award for her album Holobyt, recently disbanded her band and now performs mainly as a soloist. She is slowly working on a new album and is also focusing on visual arts. Her new book Babi, will soon be published, and she’ll also be holding another festival in the Obřany district of Brno.  more

I talked to Barbara Maria Willi, the dean of the Faculty of Music at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts, dramaturge, teacher, populariser of classical music, harpsichordist, organist and specialist on the hammered dulcimer, about the 20th anniversary edition of the music series Barbara Maria Willi presents..., as well as about historically informed interpretation and further plans. The fact that she was actively teaching a foreign student just before our talk is the best indication of how busy her schedule is.  more

The end of the Lenten season culminates in the Passover week with the commemoration of Christ’s Passion, whose motif was also the main dramaturgical idea of the Ensemble Opera Diversa concert entitled Lamento. The Wednesday evening of 29 March was devoted to works on lamentations by Czech and British composers. Conveniently, the ensemble chose for this concert the Baroque Hall of the Convent of the Merciful Brothers, which enhanced the Lenten atmosphere.  more

Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan has long been dedicated to either his own work or to the inspiration of Armenian folklore. It wasn't until his tenth album, StandArt, that he decided to work with jazz standards, compositions that work for most jazz musicians as basic preparation and as material that players from all over the world agree on when jamming together. The pianist will present his current album on Friday 24 March 2023 at the Sono Centre in Brno as part of the JazzFestBrno festival.  more

After the American tour, the Brno Philharmonic, led by chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies, has prepared a mini-festival of three interconnected evenings called Dialogues. Each of these evenings offered a unique dramaturgy with extraordinary repertoire. It was partly linked to the aforementioned tour (e.g. the concert From America to the Czech Republic). The final concert of the trilogy, which took place on Friday 10 March at the Janáček Theatre, offered the home audience monumental orchestral works from the pens of composers Alfred Schnittke and Sergei Rachmaninoff. The entire concert was broadcast live on Czech Radio's Vltava station.  more

Editorial

This Thursday, the Brno Philharmonic will open its 68th concert season. The gala evening will traditionally be led by Principal Conductor Dennis Russell Davies, who will begin his sixth year at the helm of the orchestra. The season will open with a monumental full-length work, Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection" . The Philharmonic performed it with great success a month ago at a prestigious concert in Rheingau, Germany, in collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno and soloists Pavla Vykopalová and Jana Hrochová.  more

The Actors' Association has announced the nominations for the 2023 Thalia Awards. Several of them were awarded to actors and singers from Brno theatres - Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno and the Brno City Theatre.  more

Contemporary concerts of classical music repeatedly extract only a limited part of all that has ever been created from the infinite number of musical works for its "here and now". The programme of the Moravian Autumn will therefore offer what people can otherwise hear quite rarely. It will present compositions from the Baroque to the present day, often in Czech or world premières. The opening concert of the festival will be conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic. For the second year, the festival also includes the New World of Moravian Autumn, a series of concerts prepared by JAMU students. Accompanying programmes also include a Musicology Colloquium, discussions with composers, performers and musicologists and the presentation of two new books: one dedicated to Leoš Janáček, the other to Antonín Rejcha.  more

A unique opportunity to play on one stage with such acclaimed piano talents as Jan Bartoš and David Mareček is offered to all pianists, regardless of age and musical education, by the traditional event of the Brno Marathon Music Festival called PIANORELAY.  more

In Brno, the second weekend of August will be in the spirit of the year 1645, when Brno was besieged by Swedish troops. The traditional historical city festival Brno Day, which commemorates the successful defence of Brno against the Swedes, will offer attractions such as a historical parade, period music, a craft fair and a reconstruction of the battle.  more

This year the Mendel Festival enters its 8th year. As every year, it is held to celebrate the legacy of the founder of genetics, Gregor Johann Mendel, and once again, in addition to the professional programme and the programme for children, it will also offer a musical programme, headlined by a concert of the French band the Gipsy Kings.  more

Brno singer-songwriter Dáša Ubrova is releasing her second album. Eleven Wishes Fulfilled contains compositions in a modern jazz-blues-soul vein. Ubrová created the songs together with composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Vojtěch Svatos.  more

The Brno cultural newsletter brings you an overview of summer events and opportunities in the near future concerning theatres, clubs, festivals and cultural events in Brno.  more

The New Music Showcase starts in exactly one week. Its 35th edition is subtitled MUSICA FALSA I MUSICA VERA. The festival will open next Tuesday with the experimental psycho-acoustic clarinet duo The International Nothing by Berlin clarinetists Kai Fagaschinsky and Michael Thieke. They will present their latest project Just None of Those Things to listeners. The showcase will offer a total of six concerts at Besední dům and an unconventional project at the Stone Colony (Kamenná kolonie) in Brno.  more

The closing of the Brno opera season belongs to Richard Strauss’s Salome. The work, based on the play of the same name by British playwright Oscar Wilde, returns to the Brno stage after twenty-three years. The fourth Brno adaptation of this title was created by director David Radok. After having produced Britten’s Peter Grimes, he returns with chief conductor Marko Ivanović, costume designer Zuzana Ježková, Dragan Stojčevski as the new set designer and Andrea Miltnerová as the new choreographer. The title roles will be performed by Linda Ballová, Eva Urbanová, Jaroslav Březina and Birger Radde.  more