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.