DESCRIPTION:
Amir ElSaffar and Two Rivers Ensemble
Album Release Concert
Thursday September 17, 2015
8pm
New York, NY

Location: Peter Norton Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia
Time: 8:00pm.
Address: 95th street and Broadway.


TWO RIVERS CRISIS TOUR

September 17
8 pm
New York, NY
Peter Norton Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia

September 19
8 pm
Chicago, IL
Constellation

September 20
8 pm
Chicago, IL
Chicago Cultural Center
Presented as part of the Chicago World Music Festival

September 24
7:30 pm
Springfield, MA
Community Music School of Springfield

September 25
8 pm
New Haven, CT
Firehouse 12

September 26
8 pm
Toronto, Canada
Aga Khan Museum

November 6
8 pm
Brussels, Belgium
Recyclart

November 7
7 pm
’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netehrlands
November Music Festival

November 8
8 pm
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Bimhuis


Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble celebrates the release of its third CD, Crisis, on Pi Recordings. Crisis chronicles the continuing development of trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s critically acclaimed Two Rivers Ensemble, a band purpose-built to explore the juncture between jazz and music of the Middle East, in particular the Iraqi maqam. The new work is his reflection on a region in turmoil and strife: revolution, civil war, sectarian violence; a culture’s struggle for survival. The result is passionate and visceral, a cry from the heart. Crisis was commissioned by the Newport Jazz Festival, where at its 2013 première, it made a clear emotional connection to the audience, receiving a rousing standing ovation after just the first piece. Driving and to the point, ElSaffar’s music is beyond categorization not jazz, world music or any facile fusion thereof but a world unto its own

Taqsim Saba
El-Sha’ab (The People)

from Amir Elsaffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble
Crisis

available July 24, 2015 on Pi Recordings

Amir ElSaffar - trumpet and santur
Ole Mathisen - tenor saxophone
Zafer Tawil - oud and percussion
Tareq Abboushi - buzuq
Carlo DeRosa - bass
Nasheet Waits - drums