Zero Grasses: Ritual for the Losses
Jen Shyu
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Hafez Modirzadeh’s Facets
Friday March 5th Pi’s 2021 release schedule kicks off with the release of Hafez Modirzadeh’s Facets. A recording of duets between Hafez and three unique pianists, Kris Davis, Craig Taborn and Tyshawn Sorey.
Facets was three years in the making beginning with a two night performance at the Jazz Gallery in Manhattan and featuring four sets of music with a different pianist each set. Expanding on the concepts and ideas Hafez put into motion with the retuned piano featured on Post-Chromodal Out, Modirzadeh has distilled the approach to a single re-tuning for Facets. Modirzadeh himself utilizes alternate fingerings and embouchure adjustments on his instrument to achieve intervals between major and minor, and the pieces sway with an elasticity reminiscent of Persian poetic meter. With eight keys re-tuned and the remainder left in equal temperament, the music explores the coexistence of familiar with unfamiliar, and in the process, discovers new logic and mysterious beauty within.
This third chapter in Pi’s documentation of Hafez’s work is the first release of our 20th anniversary year and a fitting start.
Goodbye 2020
As 2020 winds down we wanted to take this moment to thank everyone who reached out to see how we were doing, supported the artists and their releases with their purchases and let us know what an important role music plays in their life. During these times particularly.
Our release schedule for 2020 was greatly curtailed unfortunately. February saw the release of Liberty Ellman’s Last Desert and September Dan Weiss’ Natural Selection. In between those two releases we began our digital only series, This is Now: Love in the Time of Covid via BandCamp. This Is Now saw releases by Steve Lehman, David Virelles, Liberty Ellman, Vijay Iyer and Miles Okazaki.
As we approach the end of the year we wanted to leave everyone with this note. 2021 promises to be better and we look forward to sound tracking it. Releases by Hafez Modirzadeh, Jen Shyu, Henry Threadgill, Matt Mitchell and Kate Gentile have kept us hopeful and excited to for what’s to come.
Best to all and have a safe and healthy end of the year.Pi-
