Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Tigran Hamasyan/Arve Henriksen/Eivind Aarset/Jan Bang: A...

20

Tigran Hamasyan/Arve Henriksen/Eivind Aarset/Jan Bang: Atmosphères

By

View read count
Tigran Hamasyan/Arve Henriksen/Eivind Aarset/Jan Bang: Atmosphères
Assembled at the invitation of ECM label-founder Manfred Eicher, pianist Tigran Hamasyan, trumpeter Arve Henriksen, guitarist Eivind Aarset and electronic sampling artist, Jan Bang came together for less than one half of a week in mid-2014 to create the double CD Atmosphères. There is a fair amount of inter-group history, Hamasyan being more the outsider but having worked with Bang at the 2013 Punkt Festival. There is, not surprisingly, a pristine quality to the music that one would expect from the ECM label.

These are all players of great subtlety and that is where the music—at well over two hours—is challenging. Bang's live sampling actually adds to the elusiveness of pointillism, as he feeds in, and out, the content of the other players as opposed using electronics as a stand-alone, instrumental variable. It requires patience and careful listening to uncover distinct soundscapes in many of these compositions.

The bass-less, drummer-less quartet is saturated in atmosphere (as the title would indicate) and the collection takes its time in building to a visceral impact. The mix of original compositions (mostly collective efforts) and traditional Armenian folk tunes opens with the classically framed "Traces I"; Hamasyan's piano set against the drone of Bang and Henriksen. On "Tsirani Tsar," Henriksen expertly mimics the Armenian flute leading to a more jolting "Traces II" where Hamasyan's torrent of notes meets an avant-garde backdrop. Similarly, "Traces IV" finds the quartet in an ethereal environment dominated by Henriksen's ethereal trumpet. The first disc closes with "Garun A," a beautifully haunting piece that highlights the lyrical talents of the pianist and trumpeter.

The second disc of Atmosphères begins in a more adventurous spirit with "Traces VII." At almost ten minutes, it builds to a swirling cacophony of delicately dropped notes from Hamasyan layered over his bandmates refined suggestions of discriminating technical artistry. Though more low-key, the subsequent "Traces VIII" has an off-kilter melancholy that is thoroughly engaging. "Shushiki" and "Hoy Nazan"—like "Garun A" from disc one—are compositions from an Armenian priest, musicologist and composer who came to be known as Komitas and whose history includes his exile by the Ottoman Empire during the time of the time of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. He is regarded as the founder of the Armenian National School of Music and is revered among the Armenian people and throughout Eastern Europe.

Within Atmosphères there is a sense of moving from the antiquity of Komitas to creative improvisation, neither completely independent of the other. Because the album successfully exists in two worlds, it has broad appeal and in equal measure for those with an affinity for either. Aarset and Bang's contributions may not always be distinct on first listen but the guitarist provides a denser layer to the music while Bang adds a minimalis variation of orchestration. Atmosphères is warm and appealing without being emphatic.

Track Listing

(Disc 1) Traces I; Tsirani Tsar; Traces II; Traces III; Traces IV; Traces V/Garun A; Traces VI; Garun A. (Disc 2) Traces VII; Traces VIII; Shushiki; Hoy Nazan; Traces IX; Traces X; Angel Of Girona/Qeler Tsoler.

Personnel

Tigran Hamasyan: piano; Arve Henriksen: trumpet; Eivind Aarset: guitar; Jan Bang: live sampling, samples.

Album information

Title: Atmosphères | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: ECM Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Tigran Hamasyan Concerts


Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.