Tigran Hamasyan is just so above and beyond what most musicians can even conceive when it comes to improvisation. The notes just flow out of him in such a complete, structured, and transcendental manner- he BECOMES music when he plays. I saw him with the Ari Hoenig Quartet earlier this year and time just stopped whenever he soloed; ideas just seemed to come to him as if he knew how they had been, how they were in the present, and how they would end with every note. I am so humbled by him.
@ZRMDMK it's quite ok that only 491 people understand what's this... Tigran is genius, and his music is superb; I love gypsyology verrrry much, and I can't count how many times I watched that; this one is also very beautiful and "implementation" is unbelievably exact, I can't understand how Tigran manages to do this... so, to resume, high quality music is not for masses, so take it easy ;)
I agree with you. Brad Mehldau was my top favourite pianist and musician because I felt like he had a message that only he knew and wanted to express it to us through his music, which is heavily influenced by his beliefs. . But when Tigran came along, he became a strong contender and is now equal to Brad Mehldau in my books. Because I feel like he hears MANY messages in the pulse of everything and he's simply capturing as many as he can and delivering it to everyone in the moment with him.
There are a number of extraordinarily gifted pianists out there now, many of them young, such as Eldar Djangirov, Hiromi, Taylor Eigsti, and the late Austin Peralta. Tigran is standout predominantly because of his roots in Armenian folk music, much of which is odd-metered. His 'zoned-out' stream-of-consciousness improvising and aggressive delivery are also unique qualities. All told, Tigran is essentially very different from the more traditional players like Mehldau, Goldberg, and Kikoski.
Actually, tigran has a very well developed style. Comparatively, you take the chops of art tatum, the harmonic concepts and adventerous improvisations of andrew hill and armenina folk music and you got tigran. Also, he can show restrain and put more emphasizes on melody as evident on his fable album, i recommend you check that. Regardless of what way he plays the piano, he is nothing short of amazing.
I would like to know more about armenian music. If you want to know about our, check out this one "fito paez tumbas de la gloria" or, with traditional argentinian rithmics, "fito paez Parte del Aire"
I wouldn't call you a traditionalist...I would call you ignorant. Here are a few quotes about Tigran: - “He plays piano like a raga, the next Keith Jarrett”. (Trilok Gurtu) - “Tigran really grabbed me, because it’s got several things going on at once. It has a really wild odd-meter thing, and this distorted, aggressive piano treatment. And the harmony is kind of jazz-fusiony." (Brad Mehldau) - “A..may..zing! Now, Tigran, you are my teacher!” (Herbie Hancock)
BFD. I saw him with Ari Hoenig (the guy who looks like a fucking zombie when he plays the drums) and while some of his playing was nice, most of it didn't impress me. Call me a traditionalist, I guess I'm still into guys like Aaron Goldberg and Dave Kikoski and Brad Mehldau who really OWN what they're playing. This guy is probably still discovering himself- right now I'm just hearing notes and flashy sounds.
