Via Facebook yesterday I came across this much-shared photo:
Huh?
I tip my hat to the Citizen‘s dance writer Natasha Gauthier for sussing out the explanation for the picture, and for pointing me in the direction of these related pix:
It turns out that everyone was participating a few days ago in Boston in a music video shoot for Serj Tankian — who is only now on my radar, despite YouTube clips garnering six-figure view numbers. Here are spoilers from Twitter, complete with the #godhatesjazz hashtag.
in boston common, chosen as an extra in serj tankian's new music video. loove #godhatesjazz—
sofie bebezas (@riot_girrl) July 21, 2013
Gonna be in a music video! I had to walk around the Boston Common yelling "God Hates Jazz" and it was freaking awesome! #GodHatesJazz—
Jose Roman (@Jose_A_Roman) July 21, 2013
Best known, says Wikipedia, for his work with the metal group System of a Down, the Armenian-American singer-songwriter just released an album called Jazz-Iz-Christ.From Tankian’s website:
Jazz-iz Christ is Serj’s brainchild, but truly is a collaborative effort between many musicians that Tankian curated to be part of the group and self-titled album. Among others, there are considerable contributions from renowned pianist Tigran Hamasyan, flautist Valeri Tolstov, and trumpet player Tom Duprey. Additional performances from Stewart Copeland and actor/musician Davis Alpay and Vincent Pedulla make for a very unique collaboration. The 15 tracks that comprise Jazz-iz Christ, a mostly instrumental effort except for 4 tracks, are an amalgam of progressive jazz, electronic, ethnic and even rock elements, displaying a unique presentation of the genre itself.
Jazz-iz Christ is Serj’s brainchild, but truly is a collaborative effort between many musicians that Tankian curated to be part of the group and self-titled album. Among others, there are considerable contributions from renowned pianist Tigran Hamasyan, flautist Valeri Tolstov, and trumpet player Tom Duprey. Additional performances from Stewart Copeland and actor/musician Davis Alpay and Vincent Pedulla make for a very unique collaboration. The 15 tracks that comprise Jazz-iz Christ, a mostly instrumental effort except for 4 tracks, are an amalgam of progressive jazz, electronic, ethnic and even rock elements, displaying a unique presentation of the genre itself.Well, if Hamasyan, the prodigious Armenian-born talent who won the 2006 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, is involved, I might just be down with Jazz-Iz-Christ — even if, say, Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church brethren are not.
Near as I can tell, Hamasyan is on these two tracks:
Who knows? Will Tankian’s Jazz-Iz-Christ project play any North American jazz festivals next year? Surely the album’s controversial title will dissuade some programmers, but musically, stranger non-jazz-at-jazz-festivals bookings have happened, if you ask me.
