"[ElSaffar's] first album under his own name, Two Rivers (Pi Recordings), [is]a staggering accomplishment that subtly erases the lines between his two chosen disciplines…while plenty of horn players have tapped into Middle Eastern modalities since John Coltrane became fascinated with Eastern sounds in the late 60s, it's rare to hear it done with such conviction and authority."
- Peter Margasak, the Chicago Reader
http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/post-no-bills/2007/09/18/ amir-elsaffar-straddles-two-worlds/
"harrowing to absorb, full of as much beauty as pain"
BBC World Service
"…there's an awful lot going on here, none of it betrayed by that whiff of exoticism carried by so many other jazz-initiated fusions of this sort, no matter how sincere. As with Vijay Iyer's Indian rhythmic cycles or Anthony Brown's Asianized Gershwin, the difference is all in the artist's acute awareness of his own."
The Village Voice
"[Two Rivers]…bridges the two worlds with empathy and precision..."
Downbeat
"fresh, deep, intensely performed music…an organic amalgam"
Chris Kelsey, Jazz Times (December, 2007)
"ambitious and deftly executed"
Siddhartha Mitter, The Boston Globe—Best CDs of 2007
"a beautiful and sophisticated mix"
-WNYC--Soundcheck: CD Picks of the Week
"Two Rivers makes a strong case for improvised cross-cultural exchange."
NateChinen-New York Times Jazz Listings
"A gorgeous record balanced between two worlds, Two Rivers is a stirring example of the creative possibilities of international jazz in the 21st century." http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=27380
"Say the words "Iraqi-jazz hybrid" — or any sort of "ethno-jazz," for that matter — and it conjures a sort of watered-down background music for eccentrics. But the beauty of these "Blues" is that they require no legitimizing cultural authenticity. Tareq Abboushi's buzuq sounds like a distorted acoustic guitar, plenty powerful for improvising unfamiliar yet instinctively fitting textures. And the dialogue between ElSaffar and alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa…brings the fire of '60s free jazz without sacrificing the pulsating rhythmic undercurrent. Like the best jazz, this music celebrates the ability of great musicians to imagine unfamiliar territory, and navigate it in a way that makes for both intuitive understanding and compelling listening."
NPR.org: Iraqi Jazz Gets 'The Blues' By Patrick Jarenwattananon
"Iraqi-American trumpeter and visionary Amir ElSaffar is weaver of genres here on this altogether, enticing progressive-jazz effort…[his] mindset conveys a wide-ranging fusion of disparate musical climates as his methodologies harvest a rather joyous celebration of the spirits. Simply put, it sounds as though it was meant to be."
Glenn Astarita, http://www.jazzreview.com/cd/review-19325.html
"Two Rivers by Amir ElSaffar is in itself a force created by nature...this release travels over borders into the openness and takes separateness and breathes a sense of unity into its lungs."
http://www.greenarrowradio.com/2007/10/11/amir-elsaffar-two-rivers/
"The one thread that seems to run through this disc is a blues drenched one: it is a sound and feeling that is universal to all of us that have suffered in some way. It is both humbling and triumphant and it embodies this music quite well." – BLG
http://www.dtmgallery.com/Main/news/Newsletter-2007-10-12.html
"deeply affecting, musically adventurous, and provocative…it seems the right time for a musical project that aims to cross boundaries and give insight into the historical and current experiences of the Iraqi People"
All About Jazz New York
"Music is the great healer and hopefully [Two Rivers] in some small way can bring different cultures together in an understanding that will benefit all."
http://jazzandblues.blogspot.com/2007/11/amir-elsaffar-two-rivers-pi-recordings.html
"…a transcendent album that gets at what I think Coltrane was trying to achieve in his late music, spiritual release through music. ElSaffar has channeled his muse and recorded one of the best albums of the year."
- Lester A. French Jr.
WMEB, 91.9 FM, Orono, ME
"…the vital and versatile Arabic styles flow cleanly into the open embrace of American free jazz, and the seamlessness with which ElSaffar and his collaborators blend the two allows the listeners to focus on the content and intention of his music, rather than the logistics of it.
The opening track, "Menba'/Jourjina", sets the mood by immediately plunging the listener into a wafting melody that is shared as a common element among the instruments, yet seems to subtly shift in color and shape as each player grasps hold of it. The track also introduces some of the Arabic instruments employed by the group throughout the album, including ElSaffar's seventy-string dulcimer, the santoor, a distinctive hand-drum manned by Zafer Tawil known as the dumbek, and the lute-like buzuq played by Tareq Abboushi.
Though the Arabic themes are dominant on "Memba'", the recognizable hallmarks of jazz fade in and out of the background. They lightly touch upon the maqam melody until the band transitions into the next composition, "Hemayoun", in which the saxophone, trumpet, bass, and drums seize total control. Rather than shatter the mood, however, they decide to reinforce it by running with the rhythmic meter put forth by the Arabic instruments and shading it with the more familiar Western sounds.
This level of cooperation and interplay between the disparate styles is absolutely necessary, and ElSaffar's group does an excellent job ensuring that each of the influences effectively connects with the other. Similarly, the cooperation and interplay between the musicians, particularly ElSaffar's trumpet and the alto saxophone of Rudresh Manhanthappa, propel the album to such excellence. On the climactic "Blood and Ink/Aneen", which meditates on the havoc wrecked upon Baghdad by Mongol hordes in 1258, the two flail wildly around one other, their instruments crying out and painting a rich portrait of the chaotic din that surely accompanied the event they depict.
To hear these sounds, both old and new, mixing together so comfortably and so powerfully is a tremendous pleasure. Two Rivers goes a long way toward making the music of maqam approachable and comprehensible by putting it in context alongside more familiar jazz instrumentation and structures. The album works like a musical Rosetta stone; it provides not just the means to understand, but a way to explore a deeper, fuller history than before, and most importantly, showcases the impressive talents of the artists involved in bringing this music to life."
www.PopMatters.com
"ElSaffar combines his dual heritage into a vigorous hybrid… [and] weaves mesmerizing new tunes out of traditional Iraqi maqam."
Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper-Top 10 Jazz CDs of 2007
"[an] enchanting and captivating soundscape which digs deep, both in terms of tradition as well as instrumental nuance and skill…When one hears the terms 'ethno-jazz' or 'world-jazz' it tends to bring to mind distilled and languid jazz-lite which is given away with new-age magazines. Instead, ElSaffar and his merry men bring a real sense of authenticity…"
http://www.experimusic.com/jazzreviews-amir.htm
"ancient Iraqi scales (maqams) meet boppish modes and rhythms, a subtle nod to the way the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run parallel through Iraq and then converge"
K. Leander Williams, TimeOut NY
"daring new music…" Global Rhythm
"…hypnotic and arresting. The context is so unusual that it feels otherworldly when ElSaffar plays the santoor, or hammered dulcimer, over Carlo DeRosa's mesmerizing bass and the elegant stickwork of the much-in-demand drummer Nasheet Waits…This is new turf, and it's likely to be a lot for either culture to digest. Yet the feeling and eloquence that emanate from this sextet make the experiment worthwhile.
- Karl Stark, The Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/11201907.html
"…this is a great album from Mr. ElSaffar and his band, and comes highly recommended. It's an album of music that spans borders, incorporates seemingly disparate elements that end up comfortable bedfellows, and comes out with an end product that doesn't feel forced in bringing it all together. The feat of apparent effortlessness is a cherished quality in the music I enjoy, and this fits the bill." http://soundslope.com/blog/amir_elsaffar_two_rivers
"…an excellent synthesis of the instrumentation (like the buzuq, dumbek, and oud) and stylistic elements of the maqam form and those of modern jazz. The resultant music is what one might expect/hope for: an organic, flowing, Middle Eastern-influenced style of ethno-jazz…Genre-blurring, innovative, and well-executed…"
Daryl Licht
http://spidey.kfjc.org/?p=2722
"Two Rivers is, simply stated, a downright fascinating album from Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar...Modally speaking, the music here incorporates the musical spirit of the maqam, an Arabic musical tradition based on a unique system of modes and scales. The use of this system, which ElSaffar studied intensively throughout the Middle East, is the basis for almost all improvisation and composition on this album. Rudresh Mahathappa, a rising star in the New York scene, joins ElSaffar, but it is the trumpeter's ideas that guide the direction of the music. Instrumentally, the incorporation of the buzuq, oud, and santoor, an Iraqi dulcimer which ElSaffar plays himself, contributes to the celebration of foreign musical tradition. However, the band still pops and swings like an American group, and the combination of these various attributes makes ElSaffar's album a powerful listen."
- Mike Szajewski
Director, WNUR Jazz Show, Chicago, IL