East Loop

Description

Lead by award-winning oud player and composer Wanees Zarour, East Loop is an instrumental music band that transcends borders by exploring the intersections between Middle Eastern, North African, Turkish and Jazz music.  The group performs original compositions and occasional covers featuring Middle Eastern musical aesthetics, rhythms and microtones within a jazz framework, creating a sonic experience that blurs and often eliminates the lines between these traditions.

Work Sample

This piece is titled "Black" - an original composition by Wanees Zarour (East Loop leader) that combines Middle Eastern and Jazz traditions.  This track, along with two others included in this YouTube playlist were recorded live at the end of 2019.  It is 11:53 minutes long and features the Buzuq, a traditional Arabic instrument from the levant region.  The music involves odd meters - in this case a seven-beat rhythm - and microtones, which are notes that do not exist on a piano as they would fall in between the black and white keys, a feature in Arabic and Middle Eastern music.

This piece is titled Nuzha Street, another original by bandleader Wanees Zarour.  It is built on a 10 beat rhythm that originates in Iraq, and features the oud, a fretless instrument that is widespread across the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Greece, Iran and the Caucasus.  The piece also features microtonal music, or music that includes musical notes that are not played in Western music, the saxophone solo and oud solo, as well as the melody features these prominently.

The samples I submitted were early compositions for this group that were performed live during 2019 concerts and recorded later in the year. They are examples of the direction this group is taking.  The group has since added keyboardists Alexis Lombre and Jahari Stampley who specialize in jazz and R&B and are experimenting with microtonal music. The rest of the group has gained deeper knowledge of the Middle Eastern music tradition and aesthetics in addition to their expertise in jazz.

History

East Loop was founded by Wanees Zarour, an award winning, Chicago based oud player and composer who is steeped in the Middle Eastern and Jazz musical traditions.  This project aims to explore the intercultural connections between East and West, especially the bi-directional influences between Middle Eastern/North African music and Black-American music.  The band includes some of Chicago's premier jazz musicians such as Samuel Mosching, Chris Shuttleworth, Catie Hickey, Vinny Kabat, Jahari Stampley and Alexis Lombre (some of whom joined after the videos were recorded).The ensemble has performed at the Old Town School of Folk Music, the Den Theater, Constellation, and other venues before the pandemic.  A US tour was canceled because of the pandemic, and the group is now in the process of recording a new album set to come out late Summer 2022.  

Artistic Vision

My vision for this group is to continue pioneering in the creation of new musical works that transcend borders and facilitate intercultural dialogue.  This group will continue to explore and discover how melodic and arranging methods from different cultures can intertwine and form works that are accessible to diverse audiences.  As the director of both the 60-piece Middle East Music Ensemble for 12 years, and the co-director of the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, East Loop is the only project that I work on that produces multicultural music that is completely original.

Programs for Specific Audience(s) Expertise

The group is not for specific audiences and caters to the general public, however, audiences of world music, jazz, Middle Eastern music are often very interested in our work.  Our concerts at the Old Town and Constellation were standing-room only with a diverse audience makeup.  Additionally, we always look for opportunities to conduct workshops, masterclasses, talks and demonstrations to all school and college levels. Most of the band members are educators at both school and college levels and have developed captivating workshops and masterclasses for different audiences, shedding light on the Middle Eastern tradition and how it operates within a jazz framework.

Traditional Folk/Ethnic Artform Statement

The music is Middle Eastern, including North African, Levantine, Persian and Turkish that is performed within a jazz framework, utilizing both ethnic (oud, buzuq, riq) and jazz instruments (sax, trombone, drums, bass, keys).  In addition to original music, we do perform covers from the tradition recognizable by Arabic, Turkish and Persian audiences.