Thollem / Hafez Modirzadeh, by Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions

Thollem / Hafez Modirzadeh

by Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions

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	1.	Solo Improvisation I 03:36
	2.	Facet 26 03:15
	3.	Facet 27 04:59
	4.	Facet 28 01:37
	5.	Facet 29 05:06
	6.	Solo Improvisation II 01:54
	7.	Facet 32 01:40
	8.	Facet 39≈40 03:27
	9.	Solo Improvisation III 08:52
	10.	Duo Improvisation I 02:52
	11.	Duo Improvisation II 05:42
	12.	Solo Improvisation IV 08:40

about

Notes by Hafez:
Here is a sonic palette of eight re-tuned pitches for piano and saxophone, explored in an attempt to expand harmonic empathy. The aesthetic that arises from this interrelating of the foreign with familiar reveals an intrinsic logic, or inherent beauty, that lifts hegemonic remnants of one temperament from another. And there, within where the Tao splits, every fundamental tone illuminates a person, resonating facets of every ancestral partial, sounding humanity from its source. Thollem has radiated this humanity ever since our first meeting at an improvisation class back in the early 90’s – the joy exuded on that day, from that piano, opened the sky for me. Liken this to our flat view from earth of a constellation-filled sky, where Thollem’s astral purview encompasses the depth of these distances, traveling near-to-distant between such destined points, his sound being as the line seen between the stars. To hear his sound, then, is to gaze up into creation and smile in awe, feeling a rotating canvas of ideas in ecstatic order, holding us together in generous surrender to a facet-pouring spirit of friendship. These Facets and Improvisations are from the very first sessions with this particular re-tuning, in San Francisco, capturing the compositions in their most essential form, while the Improvisations that close the album are from the very last session in Brooklyn. Altogether, here is a befitting resolution to a decades-long idea, delivered with/by a comrade whose life-arc in music completes my own.
Hafez Modirzadeh
Muwekma Ohlone lands
May 3, 2021

Notes by Thollem:
I first met Hafez when he was playing at Ajax (might have still been Upper Eulipia's at that point) in downtown San José. It was one of the essential transformative moments for me. What I absorbed that night I have carried with me throughout the last three decades. It wasn't necessarily the music he was playing, though I loved the music. What really shook me was his profound relationship to sound itself and what felt to me as a sacred experience. I recognized my connection with the eternal in that moment, unlike any moment I had had and this radically deepened my relationship to my own music and artistic path going forward. I ended up studying Persian music with Hafez, collaborating with him in a variety of ways over the years and most importantly have enjoyed a life-long friendship!
Thollem
Ohkay Ohwingeh/Puebloan and Jicarilla Apache lands
April 12th, 2021

.....
Piano Tuning:
above C4
F# lowered 50.6 cents A lowered 38.6 cents B lowered 50.6 cents
above C5
C# lowered 65 cents E lowered 38.6 cents F# lowered 50.6 cents G# lowered 65 cents B lowered 50.6 cents
.....

Facets 26-29 acknowledge the following individuals: Angela C. Villa (26), Tania Gill (27), Nora J. Modirzadeh (28), and Dariush Talai (29). Facet 32 is based on J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variation No. 25; and Facet 39~40 is dedicated to the freedom of the Lakota People.

credits

released October 21, 2021

Hafez Modirzadeh - alto saxophone (2-5), tenor saxophone (8, 10-11)
Thollem - piano on all tracks

All Facets composed by Hafez Modirzadeh, Chromodal Music (BMI)
Tracks 9-12 recorded December 18, 2019 at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, NY, by Jim Clouse; piano tuning by Daniel Levitan.
Tracks 1-8 recorded August 12, 2018 in San Francisco, CA, and mixed by Lee Ray; piano tuning by Paul Marshall.
Produced by Hafez Modirzadeh and Thollem McDonas

Cover art by ACVilla
Layout by Dylan Marcus McConnell / Tiny Little Hammers

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Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions Santa Fe, New Mexico

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