Description

The NYC Winter Jazzfest – Manhattan Marathon Lineup:

5:30 PM: Doors

6PM: Arun Ramamurthy

7:15 PM: Amir ElSaffar New Quartet

8:30 PM: New Jazz Underground

9:45 PM: Ekep Nkwelle

11:00 PM: David Murray Quartet

12:15 AM: James Brandon Lewis Trio

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This program is part of the NYC Winter Jazzfest Manhattan Marathon, presenting dozens of artists and groups on Friday, January 9 from 5:00 pm to 3:00 am, at eight different venues across lower Manhattan. Marathon tickets grant access to all venues. On Saturday, January 10, the Winter Jazzfest presents the Brooklyn Marathon at various venues throughout Williamsburg. 2-Day Marathon passes giving access to all Manhattan and Brooklyn events are available. For the complete festival lineup visit: https://nycwjf.com/drom

A double bill of vocalist Hamid Al-Saadi and the revered Iraqi Maqam tradition, and trumpeter, composer, santur player, and vocalist Amir ElSaffar’s New Quartet. The performance presents the first two records on ElSaffar’s newly established label, Maqām Records, which highlights music based on the maqam modal tradition of Iraq and the larger Middle East, and is dedicated to bringing both historical and contemporary maqam music to global audiences.

Vocalist Hamid Al-Saadi performs the revered Iraqi Maqam tradition, accompanied by Safaafir, playing traditional instruments of the Chalghi Baghdadi. Al-Saadi (b.1958, Iraq), is the only living singer who has mastered the entire Iraqi Maqam repertoire. Inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage list, the Iraqi Maqam is a repertoire of long-form compositions of sung poetry that has been passed down orally for generations. Al-Saadi’s Maqam Al-Iraq (Maqām) is the first Iraqi Maqam release by any artist in over a decade.

Amir ElSaffar’s New Quartet is a meeting between ElSaffar’s longstanding collaborators, Tomas Fujiwara and Ole Mathisen, and Greek pianist Tania Giannouli (U.S. Premiere). The four musicians came together in 2023 in one of Europe’s best sounding halls, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. The magic and intuitive ease between the musicians was riveting and powerful, bringing ElSaffar’s unique microtonal compositions to new heights. The recording of that performance will be released on Maqām Records in November 2025. Giannouli, who plays a microtonal piano in the quartet, is one of Europe’s fastest rising stars, performing at all the major jazz festivals and concert halls. This concert marks her first time taking the stage in the U.S., as well as the group’s U.S. premiere.

FSN Presents features a diverse curation of artists from Found Sound Nation’s global network. The series is rooted in FSN’s ethos that encourages the diminishing of boundaries in music-making and music-listening — be they ethnic, cultural, or stylistic. Each concert features an FSN-curated artist who, in turn, invites a guest to share the bill. Each performer will offer an intimate 20-30 min salon style set, inviting audiences to experience a unique, intimate offering of sound and story.

Composer, trumpeter, santur player, and vocalist Amir ElSaffar has been described as “uniquely poised to reconcile jazz and Arabic music,” (the Wire) and “one of the most promising figures in jazz today” (Chicago Tribune).
ElSaffar is an expert trumpeter with a classical background, conversant not only in the language of contemporary jazz, but has created techniques to play microtones and ornaments idiomatic to Arabic music that are not typically heard on the trumpet. Additionally, he is a purveyor of the centuries old, now endangered, Iraqi maqam tradition, which he performs actively as a vocalist and santur player. As a composer, ElSaffar has used the subtle microtones found in Iraqi maqam  music to create an innovative approach to harmony and melody, and has received commissions to compose for large and small jazz ensembles, traditional Middle Eastern ensembles, chamber orchestras, string quartets, and contemporary music ensembles, as well as dance troupes.

Shahzad Ismaily is a Brooklyn-based Pakistani-American multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer known for his extensive work in creative music. Primarily self-taught as a musician, composer, recording engineer, and producer, Shahzad plays electric bass, drums, percussion, guitar, synthesizers, and all manner of sound-makers procured in life's travels. Shahzad is currently based in Brooklyn and works out of the recording studio collective he founded and created, Figure 8 Studios.

4pm
$20 suggested tickets
Pay now online or in person that day. 

Poland’s leading  jazz and improvised music festival will be held in New York for the ninth time. This year, the concerts will feature special projects that are the result of collaboration between Polish and American artists, as well as a commissioned work written specially for Jazztopad. We invite you to the events in the iconic music clubs: Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Atrium at Lincoln Center, Rizzoli Bookstore, Barbes, and private homes.

The American edition of the Jazztopad Festival is presented in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute in New York.

Performers:

Waclaw Zimpel - alto clarinet, electronics
Arun Ramamurthy - violin
Amir ElSaffar - trumpet
Abhik Mukherjee - sitar
Mir Naqibul Islam - tabla
Sriram Raman - mridangam

Amir ElSaffar presents a captivating solo set for Trumpet, Santur, Voice, and Modular Synths. 

dream brigade is the duo of Phillip Golub (piano) and Lesley Mok (drums). Fresh off the heels of their debut self-titled release on Infrequent Seams, they present a set of original compositions, standards, and improvisations.

Amir ElSaffar (Voice, Trumpet, Santur and Composition)
Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch (Live electronics and Composition)

Triennale Milano, Teatro Filodrammatici di Milano, Milan, Italy

"Time's Other Side" solo performance in dialogue with the poetry of Etel Adnan

Amir ElSaffar (trumpet, santur, voice, modular synthesizer) part of the symposium, "In the Rhythms of the World"

The Poetry Project at St Mark's Church, New York, NY