Her new contacts also led her to the talented world-jazz musicians she needed for her planned quintet: Alexander Inman-Hislop (Drums); Adem Yilmaz (percussion); Jacques Emery (double bass); and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Vandegraaff (saxophones, clarinet, flute, Arabic nāys). They will accompany her at our concert.
In November 2018 the Zela Margossian Quintet released Transition. The liner notes describe its music as ‘melodies that juggle speed, calculation and experimentation alongside a sometimes soft, windswept mood’. It blended jazz with the Armenian, middle-eastern and classical traditions and with the music of ethno-jazz greats such as Tunisia’s Dhafer Youssef and fellow Armenian Tigran Hamasyan. Some tracks are also directly inspired by her life experiences, for example ‘Ceasefire’ captures the joy of the children of Beirut being able to return to street-play during a break in the civil war. Zela observes in one interview that “there’s always music, and in music there’s always hope”.
Transition attracted an ARIA nomination for Best World Jazz Album and enthusiastic and influential reviews. Prestigious performance invitations soon followed, including: the Beirut International Jazz Festival; Sydney’s International Women’s Jazz Festival; SIMA’s Winter Jazz Festival; the Sydney Festival; the Sydney Opera House; and the Wangaratta Jazz Festival. ABC Jazz has commissioned Zela and Jeremy Rose to co-write and perform the music for an ABC album titled Visions of Nar, ‘Hymns of New Hope’, inspired by the Armenian goddess of water, sea, and rain.
The enthusiastic response to Zela Margossian’s debut album will be a catalyst for her next projects. We invite you to join us on 7 November to enjoy the moving and dazzling music of Transition and to contemplate where the next Margossian transition may lead.