For his new album, Tigran Hamasyan delivers a dynamic solo piano collection, A Fable, with lyrical songs that range from gracefully refined pieces to energetic experiments with rhythmic and harmonic diversity. One of today’s most vital and original young jazz artists who won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in 2006, Tigran finds inspiration from traditional Armenian folk music as well as poetry. With all of the songs featuring Tigran’s inventive arrangements, A Fable features the pianist’s own compositions as well as a wealth of covers, including Armenian melodies and a mystical rendition of the jazz standard, “Someday My Prince Will Come,” as well as music inspired by the poetry of Hovhannes Tumanyan and Gegham Saryan.

“The title of the album came to me because all of the compositions are telling a story,” says the New York-based Tigran. “I think people relate to fables because they are simple, yet deep.” As for recording a solo album after three recordings that featured a full band, he says, “A lot of people heard me perform solo concerts and wanted to hear me in this setting.”

Recorded in Paris, A Fable contains compositions that Tigran wrote and arranged over the past six years. The repertoire consists of mostly personal compositions as well as pieces by other composers that he has arranged. The title track, a Tigran original, was written in Armenia six years ago. “Since then I have been meaning to have it recorded,” he says. “This song was inspired by Armenian folk tales as well as fables written by medieval Armenian fabulists such as Vardan Aygektsi and Mkhitar Gosh.”

Most of the other songs on A Fable were composed in recent years while some were written even in the last days before the actual recording. “It has been on my mind for a long time to work on a solo piano repertoire and recording an album,” Tigran says, who enlisted the help of his longtime band mate, drummer Nate Wood, to record, mix and master the album. “The simple idea of performing alone in a room with an acoustic piano has been one of the most natural, and yet challenging ways to express myself musically. It is challenging because of the fact that the only two band members that you can interact with and count on are you and the piano. Yet at the same time the freedom that you have while performing alone is deeply inspiring.”

In some instances on A Fable, Tigran came prepared with specific ideas, while on other occasions he played nonstop in the studio to “see what would happen. That’s how I came up with a few of the songs and improvisation, and developed ideas for overdubs and even some vocal challenges.” The result is a potent jazz recording by an imaginative artist who freely and courageously pursues his own musical vision, not only built on tradition but also infused with his own personality and passion.

The 13-track A Fable opens with the gentle, quiet “Rain Shadows” (Tigran says it’s a mood tune “mixed in a way for the piano to sound like a music box to create a ‘30s-‘40s vibe”) that serves as the introduction to “What the Waves Brought,” that has a dramatic bounce, stutter steps and a whistling sound. “It has two sections,” Tigran says. “This tune reminds me of ocean waves.”
Other originals include the technically challenging but highly melodic “Samsura,” played brightly in 5/8 time, that is introduced by the mysterious “Illusion.” In addition, there’s “A Memory That Became a Dream,” another “mood song” that Tigran wrote the night before going into the studio and recorded with wordless vocals on the first take; and the energetic, tumbling “Carnaval,” also with wordless vocals that follow the drive of Tigran’s pianism.
For the latter, Tigran says, “I didn’t know if this would sound full enough on solo piano because I had an arrangement for it for my quintet that included many layers. But I asked Nate to play percussive rhythms on the music stand and the floor, and I added in the vocals. That’s how it came together in the studio.”

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