Jazz Society to Host International Duo for Final Summer Concert

Courtesy Photo
For the final concert for the Summer Jazz Series, Aaron Goldberg and Ali Paris will be playing a concert together at the Jones Center in Springdale Sunday, Sept. 25.

Aaron Goldberg, a renown modern jazz pianist, and Ali Paris, an upcoming vocalist and qanun performer, are joining forces in Northwest Arkansas to do a special performance where Jazz meets Middle Eastern music.

Goldberg and Paris have performed together in recent years constructing musical and cultural bridges, as well as considering the politics of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Their unique duet entwines the sound-worlds of their respective instruments and improvisational traditions.

The duo will perform together Sunday, Sept. 25 at 3 p.m. at the Jones Center in Springdale. Tickets are range from $10 for students to $25 depending on membership status with the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society. Tickets are available at digjazz.com.

In addition to the jazz concert, Goldberg and Paris will present a “Creative Conversation” at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville on Monday, Sept. 26.

The conversation will be moderated by St. Paul’s Rector, Lowell Grisham. The two will discuss Paris’s experiences growing up in Palestine and coming to Boston for college and pursuing a professional life, and Goldberg’s gradual process of discovery of both the daily realities and historical truths of the Palestine-Israel conflict from an American Jewish perspective. They will also talk about how the collective experience of making music — especially improvised music — can bridge cultural boundaries and help to recognize common humanity. The event is free to the public.

Aaron Goldberg

An adventurous post-bop pianist, Aaron Goldberg has played with many of the major names of modern jazz and uplifts every situation in which he finds himself. Born in Boston in 1974, Goldberg began playing piano when he was 7. He studied at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music when he was 17 and was a founding member of Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program in 1993. After graduating from Harvard in 1996 with a degree in History and Science, Goldberg began working with top jazz musicians in New York.

During 1998-2002 Goldberg was a regular member of Joshua Redman’s quartet, toured South America in 2005 with Madeleine Peyroux, and for six months performed regularly with the Wynton Marsalis Quartet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Goldberg recorded his first CD as a leader (Turning Point) for J Curve in 1999 and has also recorded for Sunnyside. His current trio also includes bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland.

Ali Paris

Based in New York City, Ali Amr is a Palestinian vocalist and qanun performer. His compositions contemplate Arabic and jazz music while embracing different textures and styles within the two. Amr was honored with the National Heritage Award as the Music Performer of the Year, 2004–2007. He has been touring worldwide with different acts, including his own group, Ali Amr Experiment. Amr’s childhood was steeped in music as he began playing the qanun and singing at the age of five at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music.

Paris has performed in countless artistic events throughout the Middle East and in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Holland, Japan, Spain, and Turkey, among many other places. At age 13, he completed a two-month tour of the United States, starting at the United Nations in New York and ending with an audience of 85,000 at San Antonio’s Alamo Dome in Texas. Since then, he has performed in world-renowned venues such as Boston’s Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall (New York), Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), the Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles), Auditorio Nacional (Madrid, Spain), and Koerner Hall (Toronto, Ontario, Canada).