Blue Whisper Amina Figarova

• 1Blue Whisper06:52
• 2Moving Upwards05:45
• 3Hear My Voice06:07
• 4The Hustler06:55
• 5Pictures07:07
• 6Marians07:13
• 7The Traveller05:25
• 8Moonrise06:17
• 9Juno03:43
• 10Hewa07:26
• Total Runtime01:02:50

Info for Blue Whisper

A year ago I composed a new piece. I knew what it was about, the feeling and emotion, but could not describe it in words. It happens often that I ask the audience to help me out with the title for the composition, and so I did during a concert at a jazz club in Cincinnati, OH, called 'The Blue Wisp'. After the concert a wonderful man from the audience came to me, and handed me a piece of paper on which he wrote the title 'Blue Whisper'. I was amazed at how he captured every thing I had in mind in those two words. The gentleman's name is Wayne Enstice.

Since then I have performed this ballad many times, and at every concert someone would ask if this piece was recorded. It got so much attention that I decided to name the album 'Blue Whisper'.

„Blue Whisper is a strong set of modern mainstream acoustic jazz. Far from a routine effort, Figarova peppers the disc with plenty of curveballs—such as the spoken word on 'Hear My Voice'—that will keep listeners on their toes.“ (AllAboutJazz)

Amina Figarova, piano
Bart Platteau, flute
Alex Pope Norris, trumpet (on tracks 1- 7, 9-10)
Ernie Hammes, trumpet (on track 8)
Marc Mommaas, tenor saxophone (on tracks 3-6, 8, 10)
Wayne Escoffery, tenor saxophone (on tracks 1-2, 7, 9)
Luques Curtis, bass (on tracks 1-3, 5, 7, 9-10)
Yasushi Nakamura, bass (on tracks 4, 6, 8)
Jason Brown, drums
Anthony Wilson, guitar (on track 5)
Sarah Elisabeth Charles, vocals (on track 10)
Salhiya Bilal Tumba, spoken word (on track 3)
Shamiyl Bilal Tumba, spoken word (on track 3)

Digitally remastered

Amina Figarova
Azerbaijan-born, globe-trotting composer and pianist Amina Figarova introduces ten colorful, compelling new compositions performed by her touring sextet plus guests on Blue Whisper, her 13th album since her 1994 debut Attraction.

Figarova's deeply personal, highly evocative responses to social turmoil, distinctive personalities she's encountered and universal transitions of life inform the music on Blue Whisper. Moods range from the haunting beauty of the titular track "Blue Whisper," as well as "Moonrise" and "Hewa" (featuring lyrics in Swahili by Sarah Elizabeth Charles) to the straight-ahead momentum of "Moving Forward," "The Hustler" and "The Traveler," to the sophisticated playfulness of "Pictures," "Marians" and "Juno." In "Hear My Voice," over a martial beat and sorrowful, resolute horn choir, an eight-year-old girl earnestly urges an end to violence world-wide and, with laughter, a request to "Let kids be kids."

Throughout all tracks, Amina's classically founded touch, her lilting melodies, luminous harmonies, often understated yet always propulsive rhythms and star soloists come together with immaculate sophistication. Trumpeters Ernie Hammes and Alex Pope Norris, saxophonists Wayne Escoffery and Marc Mommaas, bassists Luques Curtis and Yasushi Nakamura, drummer Jason Brown, flutist Bart Platteau -- Figarova's partner and husband of nearly 25 years – and electric guitarist Anthony Wilson (on "Pictures") are featured advantageously in spontaneous, creative engagement with her compositional themes and intentions.

Amina Figarova was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and as a child studied to be a classical concert pianist. In the late 1980s she entered Rotterdam Conservatory to pursue jazz, coming to the United State in 1989 to complete her formal education at Boston's Berklee College of Music (where she met Platteau, a fellow student from Belgium). In 1998 they were invited to the Thelonious Monk Institute's summer jazz colony in Aspen, and after more than a decade of bookings in major U.S. jazz clubs, concert halls and festivals, the couple gained legal immigrant status in 2014. They currently live in Manhattan, and tour constantly.

The compositions "Pictures" and "The Traveler" were commissioned by Jazz from Lincoln Center for its 2014-15 New Jazz Standards series. Blue Whisper is Figarova's second album, after Twelve, on In + Out Records, an independent label based in Freiberg, Germany. Written by Howard Mandel, 2015

This album contains no booklet.