Home » Jazz Articles » Liner Notes » Quartet Diminished: Deerand

3

Quartet Diminished: Deerand

By

View read count
: Quartet Diminished: Deerand
Deerand is a Persian term which means "duration" of instrument's tones.

Quartet Diminished was established in Iran in 2013 by guitarist Ehsan Sadigh. This is their fourth album, following Station Three (Hermes Records, 2021). Their music is stylistically diverse, drawing freely from contemporary jazz, art rock, and avant-garde music. The membership has been relatively stable. Sadigh (electric guitar) has had bandmates Soheil Peyghambar (woodwinds), Mazyar Younesi (piano, voice), and Rouzbeh Fadavi (drums) on most of the group's albums.

The instrumentation suggests many possibilities, including chamber jazz, Rock In Opposition-style art rock, and free improvisation, and the compositions have often been credited to Sadigh. But here the music is credited to the entire band, just as it was on the previous album. The practice of adding players from outside the quartet to the sessions was also repeated: the personnel includes bass guitarist/Chapman stick bassist Tony Levin, and touch guitarist Markus Reuter—who are also given co-composer credits. It makes for a bigger sound—the quartet is effectively a sextet most of the time—and clearly, the situation was an inspiration for all of the players. Previous albums have all been given Station numbers, but here the title Deerand comes from a Persian musical term that means the duration of an instrumentʼs tones.

The title tune is an extended four-part suite that showcases all of the aspects of the group's music. Beginning with a rhapsodic solo piano joined by long lines from guitar and bass clarinet, it moves into a dark theme before taking off into fast repeated rhythms. The full band joins in, and a ripping guitar solo erupts, including some Persian flavor. Part III includes more driving rhythms and features the soprano saxophone, and the suite concludes with a gentle coda. "Tehran II" (the first "Tehran" appeared on Station One (Hermes Records, 2015)) goes into more abstract territory and stays rubato all the way through. "Mirrorside" serves as a kind of ballad. "Allegro Per il Re" closes out the album with more minimalist repetition, but with continuously varied instrumentation, as well as Persian-inflected melodies—an exciting end to an album that is a fine addition to the band's already impressive discography.


Liner Notes copyright © 2025 Mark Sullivan.

Deerand can be purchased here.

Mark Sullivan Contact Mark Sullivan at All About Jazz.
Freelance journalist & musician. I love improvisation & live electronics, in jazz and experimental music of all sorts.

Track Listing

Deerand; Tehran II; Mirror Side; Allegro per il Ré.

Personnel

Quartet Diminished
band / ensemble / orchestra
Ehsan Sadigh
guitar, electric
Soheil Peghambari
clarinet, bass
Markus Reuter
guitar, electric

Album information

Title: Deerand | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: MoonJune Records

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

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.