CCMusic.com

Iraqi-American trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and composer Amir ElSaffar is a visionary and a pioneer of cross-cultural musical exploration. His six-piece Two Rivers Ensemble, formed in 2006, was among the first projects to combine jazz with Iraqi Maqams. In 2015, ElSaffar expanded the group to form the 17 member Rivers of Sound. The orchestra's 2017 release Not Two (New Amsterdam) was described by the New York Times as 'an arresting debut album... full of momentum, but not in the way of a single moving thing. Instead, it seems to flow and spill across bounds' and Pitchfork Magazine called it '... a towering statement of purpose-wise to many traditions, even while it remains accessible to anyone.' With The Other Shore, Rivers of Sound's second release, ElSaffar expands the group's musical palette, exploring new territories, with complex rhythmic cells and microtonal melodies melding together in lush, improvised textures created by the unique timbres of instruments and chemistry between the all-star musicians that make up this orchestra. Featured musicians include Fabrizio Cassol (alto saxophone), Nasheet Waits (drums), Miles Okazaki (guitar), Zafer Tawil (oud, percussion), Tareq Abboushi (buzuq), John Escreet (piano), and Ole Mathisen (tenor saxophone).