IT’S quite an album this, by the cosmopolitan IZE trio. Just consider its four titles, with the first track called Break G4S “On Capitalism”; the second, Resurrecting The Amber Sky “On Environmentalism”; the third All Loved “On Immigration”; and the fourth Elemeno, “On Education”.
The trio are San Diego, California-born pianist Chase Morrin, Cyprus-born percussionist George Lernis and Palestinian cellist, Naseem Alatrash. I asked Naseem about his life in music and the story behind the trio’s album, The Global Suites.
“I was born in 1991 in Beit Sahour, a town next to Bethlehem. I spent all my childhood there until college. My parents are dentists, but they liked music and supported me and my siblings in our music.
“The Palestinian musical tradition was the first genre that shaped my musical identity. Before the internet I had limited exposure to Western music as a child. I heard music of Palestine and the Levant and Arab world generally, performed at concerts, weddings and social gatherings, and played on the radio or cassettes and records that we had at home. I was also introduced to Greek music as my dad went to college in Greece and had lots of Greek records.
“As a teenager I listened to all kinds: classical, Western and Arab music, and Arabian and American pop. At aged 11 I wanted to learn an instrument, at first violin. I had no idea what a cello was. Because of the Second Intifada and lack of violin teachers the cello became an alternative. I fell in love with it at first listen. I also picked up the lute-like oud, which my brother plays.
“My earliest musical education was at the Edward Said National Conservatory in Palestine, after in Lubeck, Germany, and then, in 2010, at Berklee College of Music in Boston. I had years of training in classical Arab music and global jazz, where I learned structure, technique as well as the openness of improvisation and cultural dialogue between genres.”
At Berklee, Naseem was mentored by the great Panamanian pianist, Danilo Perez, with whom he studied, recorded and toured. This led to performing with the Turtle Island Quartet and the renowned radical trumpeter, Terence Blanchard. It was at Berklee too that he met Morrin. “We quickly discovered our connections and continually exchanged ideas. Then I met George on the Boston music scene,” and the IZE Trio was complete.
“Chase is a brilliant pianist and composer, deeply immersed in jazz and classical music. He’s one of the most creative and curious musicians I’ve ever met. George is a solid percussionist, a master orchestrator who always finds the right percussion instruments for any piece.
“We recorded the album as we were coming out of the pandemic, when we had lots of time to think differently about the world. And George and I are both immigrants and have experienced the challenges that brings.”
So, how does his Palestinian heritage affect his music?
“As Palestinians we are proud of our culture and that is apparent in every aspect of our personal and professional lives. We were forced out of Palestine and scattered all over the world, and we brought our culture and education with us. We’re known for our high level of education, and as I travel all over the Arab world for concerts, I’m told how Palestinians were a big source of education when we arrived as refugees. And wherever we went, we developed our music.”
Does he aspire to perform one day in a free Palestine?
“Of course!” he replies. “That would be the most important performance of my entire life. I hope to live long enough to see it.”
The IZE Trio declare themselves with four essential verbs: ImprovIZE; HumanIZE, HarmonIZE; EmpathIZE, and their album spans the world with these prerogatives. How does he categorize the trio, or does he prefer to describe them as Duke Ellington described the best of all music, as “beyond category”?
“Unfortunately the music business dictates the need to label music. ‘Beyond category’ is a great way to describe us. We don’t think much about genre. We aim to create music that comes from deep within our human DNA. Folk music is as close as we can get to that.”
The world reaches in and reaches out of The Global Suites. Listen and you will hear of its wrongs, its dreams and its achievements played by three troubadours of freedom. Naseem’s cello melodises and improvises alongside Morrin’s rhapsodic keys and Lernis’s scuttling and defiant percussion. Their music expresses four essential themes of the future in the present and, with all their dedication to a better world, in a key album of our times.
The Global Suites is released by Izetrio.com Records
