Improvise. Humanize. Harmonize. Empathize…
Out August the 2nd, the recording, featuring Chase Morrin, George Lernis and Naseem Alatrash, confronts crucial social issues through a collection of expansive narrative suites
“I love [Chase’s] playing and composing. He is always seeking and growing.”– bassist John Patitucci
“Listeners with even the slightest thirst for adventure will be quickly seduced by the swelling rhythms and high-spirited melodies created by Cyprus native George Lernis.” – Mark Holston, Jazziz
“Alatrash is a soloist who knows how to make his instrument transcend its traditional role and branch out in a consistently engaging manner to straddle multiple genres at once.” – Jordan Owen, ArtsATL
Improvise. Humanize. Harmonize. Empathize…
These are the principles at the core of the Ize Trio (pronounced EYES), a new Boston-based collective that explores the junctures of jazz and Middle Eastern musical traditions in service of a socially conscious mission. San Diego native pianist Chase Morrin, Cyprus-born percussionist George Lernis and Palestinian cellist Naseem Alatrash met under the auspices of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, the masters program founded by visionary pianist and educator Danilo Pérez. The three quickly discovered that they shared not only a profound musical chemistry, but also a desire to use their artistry to advocate for the issues that they care passionately about – issues surrounding inclusivity, immigration, environmentalism and education.
The trio’s debut album, The Global Suites (out August 2, 2024), features four expansive suites, each one inspired by a foundational social issue. While all three members contribute equally to the band’s repertoire, this initial outing is focused on Morrin’s sweeping compositions. The core trio is joined by legendary bass virtuoso John Patitucci along with vocalists Farayi Malek and Heiraza for the two-part “Resurrecting the Amber Sky” suite, with Heiraza returning for the album-closing “Elemeno.”
The Berklee Global Jazz Institute, according to its website, is a “performance program designed to foster creativity and musicianship through various musical disciplines,” providing students with “opportunities to explore their creativity to the highest level possible, advance the power of music as a tool for the betterment of society, and connect musical creative thinking with the natural environment.”
The members of the Ize Trio not only met through their studies at the BGJI, but found resonance and purpose in the tenets that the program espoused. “From day one, I realized that it was going to be a transformative experience,” Morrin recalls. “The atmosphere and the subjects being discussed were drastically different than anything I’d heard before in jazz education. It opened up a vision for how to collaborate in a creative, multi-cultural and exploratory way, while thinking about social activism and humanitarian work through music. It was life changing for me.”
The Global Suites is direct evidence of the ways that Morrin and his bandmates have taken those lessons to heart, but is also an impassioned convergence of their three very diverse life experiences to date. Morrin was born in the States, but discovered a love of global influences after studying Javanese and Balinese gamelan in a high school program at CalArts, later traveling to Indonesia to continue his studies. While in Boston he played with Irish musicians, and formed the duo Gapi with Korean gayageum player DoYeon Kim.
Growing up in Cyprus, Lernis was surrounded by the rhythmic traditions of the Mediterranean and Middle East, which he’s since melded with jazz and western classical music, playing with the likes of David Liebman and Far Cry Chamber Orchestra. He defines his border-bridging album Between Two Worlds as “part of a larger initiative that aims to confront the ongoing stereotyping against immigrants based on their origins, religions and skin color.” Through the cello, Alatrash has interwoven influences from jazz, contemporary classical and traditional Arabic music, joining the renowned Turtle Island Quartet and collaborating with the multi-genre master Terence Blanchard. Both have been nominated for Grammy Awards.
Morrin’s compositions for The Global Suites show no remnants of those early struggles, elegantly weaving together their three singular voices and a wealth of influences while laying the foundation for spontaneous invention and exploration – not to mention the fervent beliefs at the root of each suite. The album opens with the brooding, three-part “Break G4S,” which tackles the global military-industrial complex. “Resurrecting the Amber Sky,” with Patitucci’s agile bass contributions and the singers’ soaring vocals, ruminates on environmental issues while maintaining a clear view of the beauty at stake. The elegiac yet hopeful “All Loved” is an open-hearted embrace of immigration in the face of dangers and prejudices, while “Elemeno” is a joyous, exuberant celebration of education.
“We’re all teachers and we’re all students,” Morrin sums up – literally true, in that all three are educators (Morrin and Alatrash are both on faculty at Berklee), but also a lifelong philosophy. “Especially in the current socio-political climate, we’re really hoping to make music that’s exciting and conveys the stories we want to tell, but also embodies how people from different cultures can have a voice and a place in the musical community.”
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© Nancy Ingersoll
Ize Trio is a multi-cultural music group featuring Chase Morrin (piano), George Lernis (percussion) and Naseem Alatrash (cello). The trio focuses on combining the American art form of jazz with Middle Eastern traditions in order to create a more inclusive vision for musical communities and to raise awareness for immigrant rights. Through their different backgrounds and cultural traditions, the band’s members write original music and tell musical stories that are important in opening positive dialogue about the relationship between the US and the Middle East. The Ize Trio seeks to inspire musicians to add their cultural roots to the jazz tradition and display how music can be a bridge to understanding and connection. They were awarded the Berklee recording grant in order to record two full-length albums, to be released in 2024 and 2025. Additionally, they are recipients of the prestigious Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant, in which they have received funds to tour and work on new repertoire in Southern California.
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