Ben F. on Nostr: Mockroot by Tigran Hamasyan. I used to be a fan of Tigran Hamasyan. I loved his ...

Mockroot by Tigran Hamasyan. I used to be a fan of Tigran Hamasyan. I loved his second album New Era, which was firmly jazz with strong Armenian flavours, and I was stunned (and a little intimidated) by his third album Red Hail, which didn't sound like jazz as much as it sounded like progressive metal (although I didn't really know the genre at the time). Then came A Fable, which veered very far into pop (to my ears) and after that I was suspiscious. Last year I decided to give StandArt a chance, the album was billed as his return to jazz. I really didn't like it, I couldn't find anything of the Tigran I used to love in it. But it turns out that in those 12 years between A Fable and StandArt, Hamasyan didn't veer into pop like I'd suspected. Intrigued by a couple of youtube videos by Yogev Gabay where he breaks down tracks from Mockroot, Tigran's 2015 release. In many ways, Mockroot is an interesting blend between these two early albums I liked so much. It's firmly in the jazz meets prog rock vein, even if the instrumentation is a bit less heavy than in Red Hail. But at the same time, it's a lot more Armenian than Red Hail, with lots of folkloric and melodic stuff that is clearly not from western musical tradition. I've only given it a couple of listens, but I like it already. Now I might need to check out 2020's The Call Within which apparently is in a similar vein. #jazz #progressive #piano #armenia #music