''Jazz-Iz-Christ'' is the debut studio album by Jazz-iz Christ, a group fronted by Armenian-American singer

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...

. The album was released on July 23, 2013, by Serjical Strike Records. The album has essential participation of the renowned pianist

Tigran Hamasyan Tigran Hamasyan ( hy, Տիգրան Համասյան; born July 17, 1987) is an Armenian jazz pianist and composer. He plays mostly original compositions, which are strongly influenced by the Armenian folk tradition, often using its scales and mod ...

, flautist Valeri Tolstov, and trumpet player Tom Duprey. It also features additional performances from

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

and actor/musician

David Alpay David Alpay (born 6 October 1980) is a Canadian actor, musician and producer, known for playing Mark Smeaton in the Showtime series ''The Tudors'' and Jade in the Epix series '' From''. Early life Alpay was born in Toronto, Ontario, and prior ...

and Vincent Pedulla. Unlike much of Tankian's previous discography, only 4 of the 15 tracks features Serj's vocals ("Distant Thing", "Song of Sand", "Garuna", and "Miso Soup"). All the other tracks are instrumental, except for "End of Time", which features a female vocalist. According to Tankian, Jazz-Iz-Christ is "a combination. There's some classic jazz, dance-y stuff, and progressive things. It's all over the place, but it's jazz instrument-wise. It's for a modern listener who appreciates jazz overtones."

Track listing

Personnel

* Serj Tankian -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

(on 7–9, 15),

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(on 1–6, 10–12, 14), piano (on 2–3, 6, 14)

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

(on 11), acoustic guitar (on 15),

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

(on 3),

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(on 2–5, 12, 15), programming (on 1–6, 10–12, 14, 15), samples (on 1–6, 10–12, 14). *

- electric piano Rhodes (on 5, 12, 13), keyboards (on 1), piano (on 1, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13), bass

(on 12, 13). * Tom Duprey - flugelhorn (on 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 15),

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(on 2–3, 6, 11–15), piccolo trumpet (on 11). * Valeri Tolstov - flute (on 1–7, 10–15),

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

(on 10),

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(on 10),

(on 13), programming (on 13), samples (on 13).

References

{{Authority control . Serj Tankian albums 2013 debut albums Serjical Strike Records albums Jazz fusion albums by American artists