Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Mah-Ze-Tar: Liquid Lotus

1

Mah-Ze-Tar: Liquid Lotus

By

View read count
Mah-Ze-Tar: Liquid Lotus
As technology makes it easy to share information and art between cultures that were once far removed from each other, "World" and multi-genre music that draws from many different traditions becomes more and more common. It is with this spirit of fusing many different sounds and styles that multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/composer Maz Karandish began his project, Mah-Ze-Tar, which is finally releasing its debut, Liquid Lotus.

There is much in the way of traditional eastern music on the record, but from a wide variety of traditions. Each track on the album pertains to a particular Indian Raga, which can be most closely (but not at all exactly) likened to a scale in Western music. Even so, the inclusion of instruments like the oud and Turkish saz, as well as Karandishi's familiarity with Persian, Arabic and Turkish repertoire (among others) creates an intriguing blend throughout the record.

The opening track, "Maand," is a beautifully ambient sitar feature. Interestingly, the track uses a synthesizer much in the way a tanpura would drone underneath a more traditional performance. This fusing of electronic and traditional instruments foreshadows the heavy electronic influence of tracks like "Bhoopali" and "Cosmic Union."

The 7-minute "Liquid Lotus" combines beautiful vocals with a heavy back beat and instrumental solos akin to something that might have been on a World Music version of John Scofield's Überjam. "Folk Tune" has a similar atmosphere, and the groove supplied by the tabla provides a lot of rhythmic interest that Karandashi explores with expertise.

The entire record is a very pleasant listen, though it remains consistently mellow and subdued in tempo and energy, lacking a real arc. The combination of produced electronic elements with Karandashi's haunting performance on vocals and the wide variety of instruments he plays is interesting and enjoyable on the whole, and recommended to fans of smooth jazz or ambient music.

Track Listing

Maand; Bhoopali; Liquid Lotus; Cosmic Union; Yaman; Keshi; Folk Tune; Hamsa; Bilawal.

Personnel

Maz Karandish: Instruments, Vocals, & Compositions; Elliot Lanam: Production.

Album information

Title: Liquid Lotus | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Self Produced

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




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.