Isfahan, a jazz ballad, was written in the late Fifties by Duke Ellington. Again, harmonies remain somewhat complex and unusual regarding many jazz standards written at this time. The melody itself conceals very subtle oriental sonorities, those of the atmosphere of a city very far in the imagination. This arrangement tries to summon such an ambience, with a strong emphasis on metallic instruments like chimes in the last part of the track, and also the tibetan bells for the opening theme. The guitar chorus is surely the jazziest moment of the album, and the sparse sweeping pads starting in very low frequencies are like trying to dig deeper and deeper in the sands of imagination to recall the mood of Isfahan, far away…

    

    

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Released December 21st, 2008 as the fifth track of Ambient Jazz. Arranged and performed by Jazzcomputer.org.