Armenian born piano virtuoso Tigran Hamasyan releases his first album via the Verve imprint and impresses with the perfect winter album.
Having heard of this album and Tigran's American upbringing via Giles Petersons producer @cushtilla , I set about discovering more and was instantly hooked by the dramatic bounce of 'What The Waves Brought' and the pensive tinkering of 'Legend of The Moon', both just from watching on youtube.
Amongst several other moments of genius on the album are the scatty title track and 'The Spinners' where melancholy meets hope, originally an arrangement of the philosopher George Ivanovich.
When he plays live, hunched double over the keys, it's with such intensely that at times he mutters to himself like he's absorbed in another world. You can even hear his jitter on this concept album, where folk songs from his native Armenia are reworked to American jazz.
With jazz great Herbie Hancock calling him 'amazing', i'd definitely recommend checking this album out over Christmas :)
**** 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment