Tigran Hamasyan

Tigran Hamasyan manages to fuse powerful jazz improvisation with the rich traditional music of his native Armenia. His sound is characterized by shifting time signatures, dynamic intensity, and the alternation between acoustic and electric sounds, with an affinity for the grind of heavy metal.
His solo album, The Ancient Observer, is a collection of composed pieces, two of which are based on Armenian melodies. Some pieces are fully composed, while others allow space for improvisation.
StandArt (Nonesuch Records), is his first collection of American standards, featuring trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, and saxophonists Mark Turner and Joshua Redman. For his new album The Bird of a Thousand Voices, he immersed himself in an ancient tale and the genre of Armenian folk music known as "epic songs". “For this album, I wanted to summon new melodies that would sound as if they came from the depths of centuries while having a contemporary dimension.”

www.tigranhamasyan.com