Closing night : Yessaï Karapetian Quintet

Yessaï Karapetian is a pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Navigating between Paris, New York and Yerevan, he embraces with sensitivity and virtuosity all the facets that make up his identity: the cultures of the African diasporas of the Americas resonating with his own Armenian roots, French impressionist piano traversing the avant-garde universes of Thom Yorke or James Blake.

In his new quintet, Yessaï continues to champion his own compositions. Still accompanied by his brother Marc Karapetian (Tigran Hamasyan’s bassist) and drummer David Paycha, he welcomes Norayr Gapoyan on duduk and Avag Margaryan on blul, two virtuoso soloists from the renowned Gurdjieff Ensemble recorded by ECM, who can also be heard with Dhafer Youssef. New sounds for a jazz that, far from folklorism and fusion, seeks to recreate its own modernity.

Born in Yerevan in 1993, he emigrated to France as a child. Raised in Marseilles, he rubbed shoulders with the cultural circles of the Armenian community – where he practiced dance and traditional music – and with the Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents international festival. It was here that he made two decisive encounters as a teenager: Firstly, Tigran Hamasyan, who encouraged him to persevere in his study of bebop, and then Erik Truffaz, who spotted him during a masterclass.

Between 2015 and 2020, we discover him as co-leader of the ONEFOOT trio, a pioneer of French “next gen” jazz, then in Guillaume Perret’s band, with whom he records the soundtracks to 16 levers de soleil and A Certain Trip. At the age of 22, he emerged as one of the most promising musicians of the next generation.

After this first professional experience, Yessaï Karapetian, then a student in the Jazz and Improvised Music department at the CNSMDP, went on to deepen his musical knowledge at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston with the likes of Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, John Patitucci and Terri Lyne Carrington, experimenting with a whole new generation from all over the world.

Back in France, in January 2022, he released his first album as leader, entitled YESSAÏ on the Kyudo Records label. Jazz Magazine commented: “The ‘Yessaï’ meteor flies at a speed of 340 meters per second (…) for his first record, [he] composes the most modern jazz, crossed by high-voltage currents”.

The quintet performed the following summer on the major stages of international jazz (Love Supreme Festival, La Défense Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, Winter Jazz Fest NYC, Jazzopen Stuttgart, Kongsberg Jazz…) and shared the stage with the likes of Gerald Clayton, Ben Wendel and Herbie Hancock on two occasions.

Winner of the 2023 Talents Adami Jazz award, he created a trio for Jazz sous les pommiers, Jazz à Vienne and Jazz à la Villette with his brother Marc Karapetian, and his mentor Terry Line Carrington, winner of the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album, an essential contemporary figure in jazz, endorsed by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter among many others, and now celebrated as a leader and for her work in raising the profile of female musicians and composers.

In March 2023, he released his first solo piano album Ker U Sus on the Paradis Improvisé collection. Choc! Jazz Magazine and France Musique commented: “Yessaï Karapetian, in the midst of a blossoming career, agreed to take on this difficult exercise. With an ultimate commitment to honesty, his music is beautiful, complex, colorful and, far from being reductive, reduced to its most sincere expression.

Press

“The meteor Yessaï flies at a speed of 340 meters per second (…) for his first record, the two-time Downbeat Jazz Music Award winner composes the most modern jazz, crossed by high-voltage currents” – Révelation Jazz Magazine

“Yessaï is no longer at the stage of making promises. He makes them real on stage.” – La Terrasse

“Yessaï Karapetian, the makings of a leader” – Alex Dutilh, OPEN JAZZ

Line up

Location: Musée des Confluences | Confluences museum

86 Quai Perrache 69002 Lyon