Georgian MicroJamZ | Giorgi Mikadze

The folk music of Georgia is one of the earliest and richest polyphonic traditions in the world, despite being little known to the rest of the modern world. Combining a sense of national pride, musical invention and exploratory spirit, pianist/composer & arranger Giorgi Mikadze has created a striking new hybrid of traditional Georgian folk music and progressive microtonal jazz on his breathtaking debut album, Georgian Microjamz.

Georgian Microjamz discovers unexpected common ground between the ancient traditions of Mikadze’s native Georgia, where the Orthodox Christian church featured only vocal music in its services, and the very modern microtonal innovations of guitar great David “Fuze” Fiuczynski, with whom the keyboardist studied while at Boston’s Berklee College of Music.

Fiuczynski joins Mikadze to breathe life into this alien-sounding fusion, along with Greek-born bassist Panagiotis Andreou (Now vs. Now, Mulatu Astatke) and drummer Sean Wright (Musiq Soulchild, Taeyang). On three tracks the quartet is supplemented by the stunning vocals of Georgian choir Ensemble Basiani, while singer and ethnomusicologist Nana Valishvili adds a heart-wrenching vocal performance to Moaning, a powerful ode to the victims of the 2008 military conflict between Russia and Georgia.

BAND MEMBERS

David Fiuczynski - Fretted and Fretless Guitars

Guitar shredder, maestro, researcher, composer

and winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Panagiotis Andreou - Fretless Bass Guitar

Grammy Nominated Greek-born bass player ,

NOW VS. NOW, New York Gypsy All Stars,

Gonzalo Grau Y la Clave Secreta

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Sean Wright - Drums

Producer//Drummer

Big Sean, Neyo, Musiq Soulchild, Big Bang,

Taeyang (from Big Bang)

THE P R E S S

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Deeply cerebral but rife with passion, a tangible momentum develops over the course of this album's approximately fifty-five minutes playing time, even with (or perhaps precisely because of vocal interludes like "Moaning"). In this inexorable pursuit of elusive sound(s), Microtonal keyboardist Mikadze could not enlist a more capable or like-minded compatriot that guitarist David Fiuczynski.

Doug Collette. All About Jazz

Georgian Microjamz is a vivid and vibrant journey through Georgia’s musical heritage, through a modern lens.

Nick Hudson. The Progressive Aspect

Giorgi Mikadze tells a lot about himself in his first record as a leader. He shows us his mastery a lot of complex music forms and he’s very proud of where he’s from. Quite honestly, he’s got plenty to be proud of.

S.Victor Aaron Something Else Review

The result was that Georgian culture in particular remained virtually unknown outside its own territory, a rich tradition of polyphony that was thriving when Palestrina and Bach were still basically going da-da-da-dum. Classically trained in his native Tbilisi, Giorgi Mikadze began to develop his own synthesis of native Georgian music and microtonal jazz.

Brian Morton. Jazz Journal

Through the use of microtonal music, Mikadze finds a way to replicate the fluidity and power of the voice in instrumental music, while allowing him to incorporate a wealth of other influences, from rock to fusion to music from other regions of the planet whose traditions echo or intersect with Georgia's. In Mikadze's inventive vision, the music leaps effortlessly but intriguingly between time periods, styles and cultures in a constantly surprising hybrid.

Jazz Corner