BANDCAMP DAILY: The Best Jazz on Bandcamp: June 2017
BANDCAMP DAILY: The Best Jazz on Bandcamp: June 2017
BY DAVE SUMNER
"Trumpeter and composer Amir ElSaffar delivers an epic statement on his latest outing. On Not Two, he expands his Two Rivers Ensemble into the 17-piece Rivers of Sound orchestra, and in doing so, creating a convergence of modern jazz and Middle Eastern music, where the harmonic conventions of NYC jazz and the melodic improvisations of maqam are exhaled in the same breath from the Iraqi-American’s pieces. ElSaffar’s Rivers of Sound orchestra makes it seem like an everyday occurrence for oud and saxophones, buzuk and trumpet, and santur and cello to mingle in the same crowd, and take part in the same communal conversation. Drawing out the similarities between these musics has been part of ElSaffar’s story arc over his last few albums. His latest feels like that story’s denouement."