New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal by Ami ElSaffar
Release date: November 7, 2025Label: Maqam Records
Whenever Anil Prasad mentions an album he enjoys on social media, I know I have to check it out, right away. One of those albums that completely caught me by surprise is Chicago-based trumpeter and vocalist Amir ElSaffar. Coming from an Iraqi background, Amir connects to his roots, following a trip to Iraq back in 2002, studying the Iraqi and Arab maqam, which is a system of melodic modes, moods, and compositions that go back to the 10th century, and has been the basis of Arab classical music.
This live recording which took place at the Pierre Boulez Saal, a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, sees not just Amir, but New York’s own Tomas Fujiwara on drums, tenor saxophonist Ole Mathisen, and Greek Pianist Tania Giannouli, who is a rising star, playing every major jazz festival and venue in Europe for the past several years. Recorded on September 20th of 2023, you can just close your eyes and imagine yourself being at the venue, being in awe of what this quartet can do by taking the jazz genre to a whole other level.
ElSaffar’s trumpet arrangements, could send some intense reactions, alarming vibes that will make you feel uncomfortable at first, but he wants to challenge the listeners into this own room along with the chaotic beats the rhythm section endures which is evidential on ‘Autumn Comes’. You never know what to expect when they would send a massive blare, free-jazz impromptu, and smoky nightclub atmospheres to make you feel you are in a film-noir black-and-white movie in the mid-to-late 1940s, early 50s.
Ranging from the sounds of John Coltrane and Archie Shepp, Amir pulls no punches by making his trumpet come to life in a battle cry, prepping for the war to begin. It’s almost as if you want to dig your some of your old records which speak of the Impulse and BYG label, finding out what you’ve been missing, seeing what goes beyond the big names, but bands and artists that are often under the radar.
Once we get into the 16-minute five-piece movement of ‘Orientations’ you feel as if you’re in a dream. From its ominous piano introduction Tania handles, you could feel something crawling up your spine before Tomas handles in his drum rumbles, channeling a bit of Christian Vander. It does bring to mind of the Kohntarkosz-era from Magma when they walk into the Zeuhl-like territory.
Plus, elements of the Bitches Brew sessions thrown into the mix. Why do you think Amir tips his hat to maestro of Miles Davis? The blaring trumpet echoes throughout the Pierre Boulez, creates chaos and intense hay-wiring effects that’ll bring the roof down. I do feel that the quartet are walking into the world of the Rock in Opposition movement in this piece.
Believe me, I don’t hear just Magma, but Present, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Captain Beefheart’s sax improv on ‘Hair Pie: Bake One’ that Ole pays homage to by blaring his tenor sax out into the night, a cat-and-mouse score chase from the Tom & Jerry shorts, war cries, then the bloody aftermath, it’s all there on ‘Orientations’. You can imagine audiences are not just uncomfortable, but blown away for what will happen next, because the quartet are hypnotising them to stay until the end.
Once ‘Ghazalu’ comes walking into the set, you feel Amir’s heart and soul when he sings in Arabic language. You feel the desert, the wind hitting your eyes, the landscape of Iraq, and the hope for peace coming across the horizon. With Tania’s piano, Amir pours his vocal-lines into the mic before lending in the mournful trumpet for the loss of the loved ones as it hits you in the gut hard.
During ‘Le Marteau de la Maitresse’, Tania’s piano goes into this tonal approach which can make you feel uncertain of what’s happening, but its Tomas’ percussion work with ebb and flow before Ole’s smoky night-club sax improvisation that is almost like walking through the bombed building after the second world war and the chaos that is left behind. You feel as if the ghosts still haunt those old wounds very hard and the pain never, goes away.
The four of these incredible musicians are like a band of brothers, more like a family, creating the wonders and work they put their heart and soul into this live recording. If you’re very new to Amir’s music, this is a start. It may take repeatable listens, but if you’re up for a challenge, the live show at the Pierre Boulez is it.
