Vazesh - The Sacred Key

2021 release

Vazesh perform long-form improvisations inspired by the Persian Radif, and renowned Iranian tar player Hamed Sadeghi's (Eishan Ensemble) music. Featuring Sadeghi alongside Earshift Music founder saxophonist-bass clarinettist Jeremy Rose (Earshift Orchestra, The Vampires) and bassist Lloyd Swanton (The Necks, The catholics) this is an exciting collaboration driven by an exploration of musical discovery. In 2020 Vazesh were invited to reopen the Sydney Opera House's music program with two sold-out shows. This has been beautifully captured and presented on their debut album The Sacred Key.

“Our performances are inspired simultaneously by the vibe, audience, venue, and elements around it,” explains Hamed. “This live album captures the spontaneous composition of the group - something that is often difficult to replicate in a studio setting. The tar is a melodically rich instrument, most often used to lead ensembles and orchestras in Iranian classical music, and as I do in my group, Eishan Ensemble. However, in Vazesh, we organically take turns at providing melodic and accompaniment roles. Whatever the music calls for in a particular moment, whether it’s providing a melody, a rhythmic part or a layer of texture, the tar is able to achieve that,” says Hamed.

Lloyd adds "It’s been a gratifying challenge to meld Jeremy’s and my principles of spontaneous improvisation with Hamed’s deep immersion in the Persian Radif. There are some obvious areas of overlap, not the least being the modal jazz of the 1960s. And Hamed and Jeremy are both - despite their vastly different musical backgrounds - such open-minded musicians. So when we all tune in to the feeling of commonality as we play, and let that be our navigational star, magic always occurs."

“Engaging traditional musical cultures poses potential challenges of authenticity and ethical boundaries,” explains Rose. “In Vazesh, we attempt to reduce music to the bare fundamentals, reconstructing it from the ground up, using vestiges of melody, rhythm and pitch from our various backgrounds, as a pathway to uninhibited musical exploration. The music weaves in and out of passages, moving from meditative soundscapes to immersive minimalist inspired riffs. There pertain remnants from each individuals' musical identity - echoes of Sadeghi’s Eishan Ensemble, Swanton’s work with the Necks, and my experiences with The Vampires and in more avant garde jazz contexts. Improvisation liberates us from the shackles of tradition, allowing us to create something fresh and exciting each performance.”

Vazesh formed in 2018 and have performed around Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Wollongong. They were invited to showcase as part of the Sounds Australia delegation at Jazzahead 2021.

Saxophonist-composer Jeremy Rose leads a multi-dimensional career spanning a dozen releases of original music with collaborative and solo projects across the world including The Earshift Orchestra Jeremy Rose Quartet and The Vampires. He has received recognition through nominations for the ARIA Awards Australian Music Prize short-listing two Jazz Bell Awards the APRA Professional Development Award for Jazz a four-time finalist for the AMC Art Music Award for Excellence in Jazz and runner up at the National Jazz Awards saxophone competition.

Hamed Sadeghi is a renowned Persian tar player and composer. He has performed at festivals venues and concert halls around the world as solo and collaborative musical and theatrical projects. He has been nominated at the Sydney Theatre Awards for the best mainstage score and AMC Art Music Award for best Chamber Music. His band Eishan Ensemble has been touring regularly nationally and internationally since 2016.

Lloyd Swanton is co-founder of one of the great cult bands of Australia, the piano trio The Necks. They have released 20 albums since 1986 and regularly perform throughout the world. They were the first band to receive the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the 2019 Art Music Awards. Swanton appears on over one hundred albums including several ARIA Award winners, and has produced four ARIA Award winners by Bernie McGann.

"It’s the closest thing to telepathy I’ve seen. The audience applauds, satisfied by the class, the brevity, the structural perfection and rich invention of Rose, Sadeghi and Swanton’s Vazesh."

★★★★★ Limelight Magazine - review of the Sydney Opera House show.

“Captivating…. the uncanny effect being of three human voices singing in harmony.”