Serj Tankian is an Armenian American musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, poet and political activist. He is best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional live rhythm guitarist of the band System of a Down, formed in 1994.
Patrick Bruce Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.
Bradford Alexander Mehldau is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
Ari Hoenig is an American jazz drummer, composer, and educator.
Mark Guiliana is a Grammy-nominated American drummer, composer and leader of the band Beat Music. He is known for his playing with Avishai Cohen, Brad Mehldau, David Bowie, Meshell Ndegeocello, Gretchen Parlato, Jason Lindner, Lionel Loueke, Dhafer Youssef, Tigran Hamasyan, Matisyahu, the European piano trio Phronesis and his own band, Heernt.
Blues and Ballads is a studio album by jazz pianist Brad Mehldau. It is a piano trio recording, with Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums. Mehldau received a Grammy nomination at the end of 2016 for Best Improvised Jazz Solo on the album's "I Concentrate on You".
Tigran Hamasyan is an Armenian jazz pianist. He plays mostly original compositions, which are strongly influenced by the Armenian folk tradition, often using its scales and modalities. In addition to Tigran's folk influence, he is influenced by American jazz traditions and to some extent, as on his album Red Hail, by progressive rock. His solo album A Fable is most strongly influenced by Armenian folk music. Even on his most overt jazz compositions and renditions of well-known jazz pieces, his improvisations often contain embellishments based on scales from Middle Eastern/South Western Asian traditions.
Jazz-Iz-Christ is the debut studio album by Jazz-iz Christ, a group fronted by Armenian-American singer Serj Tankian. The album was released on July 23, 2013, by Serjical Strike Records.
Swept Away is a studio album by jazz musicians Marc Johnson and Eliane Elias (piano) with Joey Baron on drums and Joe Lovano on tenor saxophone. The album was released on September 7, 2012 by ECM Records.
Olivia Chaney is an English folk singer, pianist, guitarist, harmonium player and songwriter. Her debut solo album, The Longest River, was released on Nonesuch Records in 2015. Her follow-up solo album, Shelter, was released on Nonesuch on June 15, 2018.
Atmosphères is a jazz and ambient double studio album by a quartet composed the pianist Tigran Hamasyan, the trumpeter Arve Henriksen, the guitarist Eivind Aarset and the musician Jan Bang. This album was released in the label ECM Records in September 2016.
Swallow Music Awards is an annual national music awards ceremony first held in Yerevan, Armenia, on 25 March 2017. The awards are created and sponsored by RA Ministry of Culture to appreciate and spur the activities of individuals and creators of various genres of Armenian musical art, as well as to display the significant achievements in the field of music to the broader layers of society. The awards consist of four parts: achievements in classical genre, folk genre, mass pop genre, and special/other awards. During the ceremony artists are given the awards designed by Armenian painter and designer Arman Nur. Each year, the award ceremony airs live on Public Television company of Armenia.
Seymour Reads the Constitution! is an album by pianist Brad Mehldau. The trio recording, with Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums, was released by Nonesuch Records in 2018. The pianist reported that the melody and name of the title track came from a dream, during which actor Philip Seymour Hoffman read to him. The album received two Grammy nominations at the end of 2018.
Mockroot is the sixth album by Tigran Hamasyan released 17 February 2015. The album mixes traditional Armenian folk music with jazz, in the jazz fusion style. It features Tigran on synths, keyboard and vocals; Sam Minaie on bass guitar; and Arthur Hnatek on the drums and electronics. It was the first album he released on Nonesuch Records. The album was planned to be released 26 January 2015, but was delayed and released 17 February 2015.
Shadow Theater is the fifth album by Tigran Hamasyan published in 2013. The album contains 12 tracks and is a mix of several different styles, including jazz, jazz fusion, pop and Armenian folk. The album consists of tracks which he had composed many years ago, but not released. He then adapted and changed these tracks over around six years, until the albums release in 2013. This was Tigran's second release on Verve and was released in the US on Sunnyside the following year.
A Fable is the 4th album by Tigran Hamasyan released in February 2011. Tigran uses traditional Armenian hymns, Armenian poetry and Armenian folk music as the basis for the tracks on the album. The album also draws influences from Jazz, Rock and Pop. Tigran in an interview said that he chose the name of the album "... because each composition tells a story ... [and] people can relate to fables because they are both simple, yet deep." He only used his first name on this album's release, but has used his full name in subsequent albums.
Luys i Luso is the seventh album by Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan. It was released to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
For Gyumri is the 3rd extended play by Tigran Hamasyan and was released 16 February 2018. Tigran considers this EP a companion work to his 8th album An Ancient Observer, which was released the year before. Similarly to An Ancient Observer, this work is mostly solo piano with use of sparing vocals. The album is named after the city Gyumri and is where Tigran was born. This was his 3rd release on Nonesuch Records, with the two previous releases being An Ancient Observer and Mockroot. Tigran said that this album "... is an ode to my birthplace, the town that nourished my childhood world with great experiences and made me who I am". He performed this EP in Royce Hall at University of California, Los Angeles, and part of the proceeds went to the Children of Armenia Fund.
Ancient Mechanisms is the 4th album by LV, which was created in collaboration with Tigran Hamasyan and was released 9 October 2015. LV is a duo of Si Williams and Will Horrocks, who met when they were both studying at University College London. Critics said that Tigran and LV did not gel well together, leaving the music sounding disjointed. LV and Tigran first met when they were performing at a Maida Vale session in 2012 for Gilles Peterson's final BBC Radio 1 show.
LV is an electronic music duo of Si Williams and Will Horrocks, created in 2007, who met when they were both studying at University College London. The duo is based in London and has produced four albums to date. The duo have collaborated with artists on all of their albums and collaborations have included working with Tigran Hamasyan and Okmalumkoolkat.
