Tigran Hamasyan (; born July 17 1987) is an

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. He plays mostly original compositions, strongly influenced by the Armenian folk tradition, often using its scales and modalities. In addition to this folk influence, Hamasyan is influenced by American jazz traditions and, to some extent, as on his album Red Hail, by progressive rock. His solo album ''A Fable'' is most strongly influenced by

Armenian folk music Armenian folk music is a genre of Armenian music. It usually uses the duduk, the kemenche, and the oud. It is very similar to folk music in the Caucasus and shares many similar songs and traditions with countries around Armenia, namely Georgi ...

. Even in his most overt jazz compositions and renditions of well-known jazz pieces, his improvisations often contain embellishments based on scales from Middle Eastern/Southwest Asian traditions.

Early life

Hamasyan was born in

Gyumri Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...

. His ancestors were from the

Kars Kars ( or ; ; ) is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District.� ...

region. His father was a jeweler and his mother designed clothes. At the age of three, he began to play melodies on his family's piano, and he went to a music school from the age of six. As a young child, he dreamed of being a

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

guitarist.Lewis, John (October 24, 2013
"Tigran Hamasyan, the Pianist Giving Jazz an Armenian Twist".
''The Guardian''. He studied jazz from the age of nine, then tried to incorporate local folk melodies into jazz-form improvisations when in his teens. At this stage, Hamasyan was influenced by Armenian composers

Arno Babajanian Arno Harutyuni Babajanian (January 22, 1921November 11, 1983) was a Soviet and Armenian composer and pianist. He was made a People's Artist of the USSR in 1971. Biography Babajanian was born in Yerevan on January 22, 1921. By age 5, his musical ...

and Avet Terterian. Hamasyan, together with his parents and sister, moved to

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

when he was around 10,"Tigran Hamasyan Trio".
Monterey Jazz Festival. Retrieved October 25, 2013. and then to California when he was 16. He currently resides in Yerevan, Armenia.

Career

Hamasyan recorded his first album, ''World Passion'', at the age of 18. He spent a lot of 2013 in Armenia, which helped develop his interest in its folk music. He was the leader of the "Aratta Rebirth", with which he performed ''Red Hail''. On April 29, 2022, Nonesuch Records released Hamasyan's first album of American standards - ''StandArt''. The project was recorded in the spring of 2021 in Los Angeles and includes 9 songs from the 1920s through the 1950s, by

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

David Raksin David Raksin (August 4, 1912 – August 9, 2004) was an American composer who was noted for his work in film and television. Raksin had more than 100 film scores and 300 television scores to his credit. Some sources called him the "Grandfather of ...

, and others. Bassist Matt Brewer, drummer Justin Brown, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist and label-mate

Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006). Life and career Joshua Redman was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman a ...

, and saxophonist Mark Turner collaborated with the pianist and contributed to the recording.

Awards

* 2002: 3rd Prize ''Concours International de Piano-Jazz Martial Solal'' (Paris). * 2003: 1st Prize ''Jazz à Juan Révélations'' in the ''jazz instrumental'' category. * 2003: 1st Prize ''Prix de la Critique et du Public, ''Concours de Piano du

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

''. * 2005: 3rd Prize ''Concours de Piano-Jazz de Moscou''. * 2005: 1st Prize ''8ème Concours de Solistes de Jazz de Monaco''. * 2006: 1st Prize '' Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz''. * 2006: 2nd Prize ''Concours International de Piano-Jazz Martial Solal''. * 2013: Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Contemporary Music * 2015: Paul Acket Award in the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is a festival held annually on the second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. The festival moved to Rotterdam in 2006 after the demolition of the Statenhal in The Hague where it was originally held. ...

. * 2016:

ECHO In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

Jazz Awards.

Discography

As leader

EPs

* ''EP No. 1'' (2011) Released exclusively on vinyl and digital download * ''The Poet'' (2014) * '' For Gyumri'' (2018)

As sideman

*2010: ''Abu Nawas Rhapsody'' with

Dhafer Youssef Dhafer Youssef (; born 19 November 1967) is a Tunisian composer, singer and oud player. Biography Dhafer Youssef was born in Téboulba (a small village of coastal Tunisia); his grandfather was a muezzin. He calls the radio "the most important s ...

(Jazzland) *2011: ''Lines of Oppression'' with Ari Hoenig (Naive/AH-HA) *2012: ''Liberetto'' with

Lars Danielsson Lars Danielsson (born 5 September 1958) is a Swedish jazz bassist, composer, and record producer. Biography Danielsson was born in Smålandsstenar, and was educated at the music conservatory in Gothenburg. He plays double bass, electric bass ...

(ACT) *2012: ''Lobi'' with Stéphane Galland (Out There/Out Note) *2013: '' Jazz-Iz-Christ'' with

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian ( , ; born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band System of a Down, which was formed in 1994. Tankian has released five albums with System of a Down ...

, Valeri Tolstov & Tom Duprey *2013: '' The World Begins Today'' with Olivier Bogé, Sam Minaie & Jeff Ballard (Naïve) *2014: ''Liberetto II'' with Lars Danielsson (The Act Company) *2015: '' Ancient Mechanisms'' with LV ( Brownswood) *2016: ''

Atmosphères ''Atmosphères'' is a piece for orchestra, composed by György Ligeti in 1961. It is noted for eschewing conventional melody and metre (music), metre in favor of dense sound texture (music), textures. After ''Apparitions'', it was the second piec ...

'' with

Arve Henriksen Arve Henriksen (born 22 March 1968) is a Norwegian trumpeter. Career Henriksen was born in Stranda Municipality and educated on the Jazz program at Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet, Trondheim Musikkonservatorium; he later studie ...

Eivind Aarset Eivind Aarset (born 23 March 1961) is a Norwegian guitarist and composer. His style has been associated with nu jazz and electronic music, and often makes extensive use of effects to process his guitar. In addition to his work as a bandleader, A ...

, and

Jan Bang Jan Bang (born 21 August 1968) is a Norwegian musician and record producer who has worked with Morten Harket, Sidsel Endresen, David Sylvian, Nils Petter Molvær, Arild Andersen, Bugge Wesseltoft, Arve Henriksen, and Erik Honoré. (in Norweg ...

(ECM)

References

External links

Tigran Hamasyan - Armenian National Music
* *
Tigran Hamasyan - They Say Nothing Stays The Same - Soundtrack album of Joe Odagiri's film
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamasyan, Tigran Armenian jazz pianists 21st-century Armenian pianists 21st-century Armenian musicians 21st-century Armenian male musicians ECM Records artists Nonesuch Records artists Verve Records artists 1987 births Living people People from Gyumri Tchaikovsky Secondary Music School alumni Armenian expatriates in the United States USC Thornton School of Music alumni