All About Jazz, PA
May 5 2008
Gene Ess and Tigran Hamasyan – Recording and Dates
Posted: 2008-05-05
Guitarist Gene Ess and his quartet will be recording a new album in
June, 2008. This new work will feature the 2006 Thelonious Monk Piano
Competition 1st place winner Tigran Hamasyan on piano. Along with the
recording dates, the quartet will perform the new material on June 12
at Cachaca and on June 17 at Drom NYC.
At twenty-one, pianist Tigran Hamasyan has already done much to launch
his name into the world of emergent young lions. He has toured
throughout Europe, moving beyond his native Armenia to take prizes in
jazz competitions from Moscow to Monaco. And, after winning the
prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition in 2006, he studied
in the United States before returning to Paris, where he recorded his
first album, New Era. Tigran will be joining Gene Ess, Harvie S, and
Tyshawn Sorey for these New York dates.
Gene Ess brings his award-winning musicianship from a very diverse
background. He grew up playing the classical piano, due to his mother
being a classical pianist and a well-known piano instructor. His early
years were filled with the classical sounds of Beethoven and
Chopin. Simultaneously, Gene was receiving a mix of influences: he was
exposed to the indigenous music of Okinawa, and – growing up on a US
Air Force Base- to the pop and jazz music of the day.
Cindy McLeod of Jazz Review writes `With the release of Sandbox and
Sanctum, Gene Ess has firmly cemented his place as a major jazz artist
of the new millennium. His post-bop work is delivered with adventurous
spirit and intense ethos, offering a powerful, unique voice to the
idiom. A guitarist of virtuosic proportions, Ess plays fluid chromatic
lines sometimes reminiscent of John Abercrombie. His performance is
simply stated, yet reveals stunning technical fluency, the signature
of all true greats. There’s a delicious sense of tension/release with
his performance riding over the rhythm section, Ess is a master of the
art of creating dynamic interplay. Supple, sanguine, and superb are
the three words that kept popping into my head as I listened, this
recording knocked my socks off and will be in my CD player on a
regular basis for many years to come."
The performances are on June 12, 2008 at 7PM @ Cachaca Jazz Club. 35
West 8th Street, New York, NY 10011 and June 17, 2008 at 8PM @ Drom
NYC Club. 85 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009. Both shows are $15.00
cover. The album will be recorded on June 14 and 15 at Kaleidoscope
Sound. Performances produced by SIMProductions.