Matinee: Amir ElSaffar New Quartet

Beauty born from immediacy: in 2023, American trumpeter, santur player, vocalist and composer Amir ElSaffar, Norwegian saxophonist Ole Mathisen, Greek pianist Tania Giannouli and American drummer Tomas Fujiwara came together in Berlin. Over two days they worked on freshly written pieces, then gave a memorable concert at the Pierre-Boulez-Saal.

Above the harmonically shimmering cluster foundation of a microtonally tuned grand piano and Fujiwara's polyphonic rhythms, the trumpet and saxophone carry on an intense conversation - full of nuance, depth and resonance. Filigree solos and contemplative passages, organic jazz and Middle Eastern sound sketches (ElSaffar is a leading authority on Arabic maqam music) weave structures so tightly interlocked that you can sense the individual threads but can barely pull them apart - as if these four musicians had been waiting all along to braid their talents together.