The Gazette (Montreal) Thursday They Choose Their Own Adventures; Double bill pairs fearless artists unbound by time, space or genre by T'CHA DUNLEVY, The Gazette "It's really important to know where your roots are," Tigran Hamasyan said Tuesday morning. On the phone from a beach in Italy, where he was vacationing with his wife, the fearless jazz pianist was talking about his deep connection to his Armenian heritage, but also about what he sees as an essential human value. "I grew up in Armenia until I was 16," the 29-year-old continued. "I wish that people were more interested in where they come from so they can understand what to do in their lives. Except for your mother and father, what else is in your genes that you might not know about something that can influence you, that is your path, that you can check out and know about? This is something very important for me." Hamasyan continues to explore his genes and century-spanning musical genealogy on the new album An Ancient Observer. He will perform material from it on an intriguing double bill Saturday at the sonically pristine Maison symphonique as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. He anchors an evening led off by Montreal saxophone monster Colin Stetson, whose primal-meetsfuturistic one-man symphonies keep pushing the limits of what you thought was possible with a woodwind on his latest solo offering, All This I Do for Glory. As a prelude to the gargantuan tête-à-tête, I touched base with both men to get their thoughts on heritage, musical boundaries and creative control. Hamasyan has found himself in all kinds of situations since shaking up the piano landscape by winning first prize at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz competition in 2006. He broke through with his breathtaking 2011 Verve debut, A Fable, teamed up with Armenian-American hard-rocker Serj Tankian of System of a Down on the latter's 2013 side project, Jazz-iz Christ, and let loose in a group setting on his own turbocharged 2015 album, Mockroot. Influenced by everything from prog rock and heavy metal to classical and the rich history of Armenian folk music, he sees musical divisions as unnecessary distractions. "I'm open to any style," Hamasyan said. "I don't limit myself to say I only like jazz or classical. I like all kinds of music. I like to dedicate myself to projects. I ask myself, 'This specific project I'm doing, what is it?'"For me, the most important thing is to choose a repertoire. For example, is it a trio record? Certain songs might need something powerful, more of a thrash-rock sound rather than a jazz kit. I have a lot of electronic sounds mixed with acoustic piano sounds. The most important thing is the content of what you're writing. ... (The connection) is the composition and the idea of improvisation within these genres." On first listen, the disparate sounds of An Ancient Observer seem most informed by classical music, but nearly every song contains flourishes of other styles, from the soulful vocal incantations and cascading piano runs on The Cave of Rebirth to the jazzy mischief and beat-box scatting of Nairian Odyssey and the palatecleansing interludes New Baroque 1 and 2. Hamasyan brings it all together. "I like to write music, then sit down and explore the ideology of it, and make it into a story," he said, "which in this case is the connection of time and the eternal. What's passing and what is important in life - the idea of creation. Humans were made to create. God created us so we can also create. So in other words, loving what you do and knowing what you really want to do is very important." Stetson also enjoys a good yarn. While the thrilling sounds on All This I Do for Glory contain no lyrics, the album and song titles (Like Wolves on the Fold, Between Water and Wind) hint at a mythological subtext to which the performer is not averse. "I tend to use pretty large language and grandiose, sweeping (titles) because I find it's necessary for those things to meet the music halfway," Stetson said. "This record and the next I think of as a bit of an origin story. It's the first of a two-part character study. The first part is (about a man) who is part of this couple, who has this unrequited dream of regaining his former glory or some semblance of what he imagines that would be. It's like a life overrun by the fantasies of ambition." Stetson also used a narrative backdrop with his partner, violinist Sarah Neufeld (who, in addition to her solo career, is known for her work with Arcade Fire), on their collaborative 2015 album, Never Were the Way She Was. Here it's the launch pad for the saxophonist to delve into the dramatic aural environments that have become his trademark: furious whirlwinds of sound propelled by his circular breathing technique; use of repetition and elaboration on a theme; driving percussive elements consisting of his carefully miked fingers hitting the pads of his instrument; and, when the feeling hits, him singing plaintively into his saxophone while he plays. "Purely from a mechanical standpoint, it's much more percussive in an almost modern sense," Stetson said of the album. "It's drawing on things like electronic music and dance music. ... In character, I think there's this boastful ambition to it, with a strain of self-aware doubt. I really wanted to imbue this one with fragility." If you're looking to categorize what Stetson does, don't. Though trained in classical and with some background in jazz improvisation, the musician who has worked with Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Bill Laswell and LCD Soundsystem - and just released an album with his new heavy metal-inspired band Ex Eye - would rather not even entertain the question. But, in a generous mood, he indulges: "To me, it's everybody else's job to talk about that," he said. "It's something I don't ever want to take part in, because not only do I not see it in those terms, I don't make music thinking about it. My perfect audience is one that has no frame of reference ... not even knowing it's a sax being played. They're hearing (my music) without any expectation." [email protected] twitter.com/TChaDunlevy AT A GLANCE Tigran Hamasyan and Colin Stetson perform Saturday, July 1 at 7 p.m. at the Maison symphonique as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Tickets cost $47.25 to $52.25, available via montrealjazzfest.com !@COPYRIGHT=© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved.