Iraqi Jazz Fusions: Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers

Iraqi-American jazz artist Amir ElSaffar, second from left, leads the ensemble in his original concert-length suite, Two Rivers, which blends elements of jazz and classical Iraqi and Arab music. The CD recording of the work was named to top-ten lists for jazz recordings in 2007 by the Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer and was ranked runner-up for the top debut jazz release of the year by the Village Voice. Left to right: Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Amir ElSaffar, trumpet; Nasheet Waits, drums; Rudresh Mahanthappa, saxophone; and Carlo DeRosa, bass.

In 2002, Amir ElSaffar, trumpet, traveled to Iraq, his father's homeland, to study the Iraqi and Arab maqam, a system of melodic modes, moods, and compositions that dates to the tenth century and remains the basis of Arab classical music today. A year before releasing the Two Rivers CD, ElSaffar recorded Safaafir: Maqams of Baghdad, a CD devoted to the classical Arab music of Iraq.

Amir ElSaffar, here on vocals and santur, devotes one movement of the Two Rivers Suite to a classical Arabic poem honoring Baghdad, which he has set to a tragic melodic mode known as maqam mukhalif. This maqam is thought to have been created in the aftermath of Genghis Khan's bloody sack of Baghdad in 1258. In Iraqi music theory, each maqam is associated with a unique spiritual essence (ruhiyya) and embodies an aspect of Iraq's history and culture.

Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa (right), a Guggenheim fellow, was named a "Rising Star" of jazz saxophone four years in a row by Down Beat magazine's International Critics Poll. His own concert-length piece, Kinsmen, released on CD in 2006, was named to the lists of top jazz albums of the year by the New York Times, Village Voice, National Public Radio, and BBC. His six-piece ensemble performed the work at the Freer Gallery in 2007.

Jason Adasiewicz was named a "Rising Star" of vibraphone in 2007 by Down Beat magazine's Critics Poll. He is a member of more than a dozen working bands in Chicago, including Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra and the Guillermo Gregorio Trio. He performed the Two Rivers Suite with Amir ElSaffar in Chicago's Millennium Park in 2008.

Drummer Nasheet Waits (second from left) has recorded and performed with such jazz legends as Hamiet Bluiett, Ron Carter, Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, and Joshua Redman. As a member of Jason Moran's Bandwagon, Nasheet was part of "the most exciting rhythm section in jazz" (JazzTimes) and Bandwagon's CD "Black Stars" was named the best jazz recording of 2001 by JazzTimes and the New York Times. Bassist Carlo De Rosa (second from right) has worked with such jazz and Latin music greats as Ravi Coltrane, Ed Thigpen, Steve Turre, and Papo Vasquez. In 1999, he toured six African countries as a "U.S. Jazz Ambassador."