Festival International de Jazz de Montreal 2014

Arriving onstage to a warm reception by the packed house at Gésu, Tigran began the set solo, though it wasn't long before his grand piano was being fed through a bevy of processing to render it quite unlike any grand piano your granddaddy ever heard. It was an impressive demonstration of stylistic, technical and musical breadth—a complete avoidance of any pigeonholing that, while it possessed many, many touchstones, was to define the entire set which, with three encores demanded by the crowd with loud hoots, hollers, claps, foot stomps and any other sign of appreciation they could muster, ran close to 100 minutes.

Tigran's group then joined the pianist for the second tune: bassist Sam Minaie, back from Akinmusire's third By Invitation evening, this time solely on electric bass and much more heavily effected; guitarist Charles Altura, a massively impressive player who, in addition to Tigran, has been touring as a member of Chick Corea's latest group and recording, The Vigil (Stretch, 2013); drummer Arthur Hnatek, another superlative player who mixed the electric with the acoustic; and singer/keyboardist Arani Agbabian, who along with Tigran's vocals brought the heavily vocal-oriented—yet not in any conventional way—Shadow Theater to life.

From Hnatek's electro-acoustic drum kit, thundering out polyrhythms and complex cross-rhythms, at times sounding like a young Bill Bruford, to Altura's blend of textural soundscaping and mindboggling light-speed tapping, this was a show that demanded nothing short of complete instrumental mastery from everyone, as the music, imbued with the folk tradition of Tigran's Armenian homeland, nevertheless assumed head-bobbing post-punk energy at times, while elsewhere in the set the complex interrelationships between the group's various parts sounded like M-Base-meets-progressive rock.

None of these individual components—including the opportunity each member of the band got, at least once, to take an extended solo amidst Tigran's heavily composed music—detracted from the pianist's ability to also create music of unabashed beauty—mainly when Agbabian was at the microphone, but also when, during the second of the three encores, Tigran came out with only Minaie and Hnatek for a piece that began gently, but ultimately turned more aggressive, as Tigran's complex rhythmic piano patterns intertwined with Hnatek's mix of electronic drum sounds, thundering snare and toms, and splashing cymbal work.

With so many performances taking place at FIJM, it would be hyperbole to suggest, with any certainty, that this was the most unique and thoroughly thrilling performance the festival has seen this year. But for anyone at Gésu for Tigran's show, this may well be one of the most energetic, imaginative shows in recent memory...and, most certainly, the near-deafening response from the audience would support this suggestion.

The simple fact is that, while there are many components that Tigran has drawn upon to create Shadow Theater—from progressive rock to Armenian folk music; from punk energy to Pat Metheny-informed wordless vocals; from balls-to-the-wall fusion to gentle religious hymns; and from a kind of minimalism-informed repetition not unlike Swiss pianist Nik Bärtsch's work with Ronin, but amped up way past eleven to electro-centric textures that suddenly made Tigran's participation at least year's Punkt Live Remix festival in Kristiansand, Norway make absolutely perfect sense—this was music whose sum total, quite simply, sounded like nothing else in this world, and whose performance live surpassed the already impressive Shadow Theater record. The album is a good representation of what Tigran brings to the stage when he performs this music live, but if his Montréal performance was any indication, this is also music that is evolving over time. If the over-the-top reception for his music at FIJM was any indication, Tigran is clearly onto something truly significant...and is a star is only beginning to rise, with far greater heights yet to achieve, and far greater recognition surely to come.

Festival Wrap-Up

Focusing largely on two By Invitation series this year, with just a couple of additional shows added for variety, means that only the smallest sampling of what was on offer for the 35th Festival International de Jazz de Montréal was taken in. Still, sometimes less is better, and both Akinmusire and Tigran delivered evenings that were so good that, in many cases, going on to another show felt somehow wrong. Sometimes, after something as powerful as Tigran's Shadow Theater performance, anything else would both pale in comparison and spoil the wonderful feeling left by that concert.

But if the number of shows attended was, perhaps, less than in previous years, the quality was as good—better, even—than years past, and after five nights and seven absolutely top-notch shows, the only thing left to say is: roll on edition 36.

Photo Credit: John Kelman

Comments