Emad Armoush's Rayhan: Distilled Extractions

Jazz and creative music have always resisted assimilation. By that, I mean jazz draws upon—or perhaps more accurately, appropriates—sounds, traditions and styles to create something entirely new. This has been true since New Orleans musicians blended Caribbean, French, African and Sicilian influences while performing on traditional marching band instruments. Over the century-plus since its inception, improvising musicians have expanded the genre far beyond the boundaries envisioned by their Louisiana originators. Think of artists like John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Ahmed Abdul-Malik, and Bill Laswell, who looked East for inspiration.

Equally significant are the international musicians who have brought their own rich heritages into jazz. Among them are Tunisian oud virtuoso Anouar Brahem, Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar and Pakistan-born guitarist Rez Abbasi. To this list, we can now add Syrian-born Canadian musician Gordon Grdina's Haram project on Night's Quietest Hour (Attaboygirl Records, 2022). Like Grdina, Armoush plays the oud; he is also a vocalist and a performer on the ney, an ancient Persian flute. Armoush leads his ensemble Rayhan, which features clarinetist Francois Houle, violinist Jesse Zubot, trumpeter JP Carter, all of whom incorporate electronic effects, and drummer Kenton Loewen. For their latest release, Distilled Extractions, cellist Marina Hasselberg joins the lineup, following their debut album, Fragrance (Aire Records, 2021).

The album opens and closes with compositions by Egyptian vocalist and composer Sayed Darwish (1892-1923). For Rayhan, covering Darwish is akin to modern jazz artists reinterpreting Cole Porter. Armoush's Arabic vocals are accompanied by a mix of acoustic instruments and subtle electronics, creating a sound that feels both timeless and strikingly modern. Similarly, the four traditional covers performed by the band, "Amenti," "Lahza," "Efragohome" and "Ya Hilu," retain their ancestral essence while being reinvigorated through group improvisation.

Crucially, Armoush avoids the trap of allowing his music to be subsumed into the generic category of world music. Instead, he preserves the integrity of these traditions while reimagining them with a jazz sensibility. His two original compositions, the Jon Hassell-inspired "Marriage Party," with its infectious rhythms, and "Trance," a piece that seamlessly weaves between movement and spoken word, further demonstrate his ability to integrate jazz improvisation without diluting his cultural roots.