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Amir ElSaffar And Two Rivers, Live In Concert: Newport Jazz 2013

WBGO | By Patrick Jarenwattananon
Published August 4, 2013 at 2:31 PM EDT
Amir ElSaffar and Two Rivers performs at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival
Adam Kissick for NPR
Amir ElSaffar and Two Rivers performs at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival

Amir ElSaffar grew up around Chicago as something of a trumpet prodigy, in both jazz and classical. He was winning competitions and beginning to make a go of it in New York. Then he started investigating his Iraqi heritage in music, and studying the hammered dulcimer and the modes of various Middle Eastern musics. This band splits the difference, using microtonal techniques to investigate the blues. They'll have new tunes too, commissioned for Newport and supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Personnel

  • Amir ElSaffar, trumpet and santur

  • Ole Mathisen, tenor sax

  • Zafer Tawil, oud/violin/dumbek

  • Tareq Abboushi, buzuq/percussion

  • Carlo DeRosa, bass

  • Nasheet Waits, drums

    • Set List

  • "The Great Dictator" (ElSaffar)

  • "Shaab" (ElSaffar)

  • "(Untitled)" (ElSaffar)

  • "Flyover Iraq" (ElSaffar)

  • "Whirlwind" (ElSaffar)

    • Copyright 2013 WBGO
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    Patrick Jarenwattananon
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