Raffi Garabedian - The Crazy Dog (2024) [Hi-Res]

The Crazy Dog, a suite of new music composed and arranged by tenor saxophonist Raffi Garabedian, is both a departure and homecoming for the Bay Area musician. Writing for voice for the first time, Garabedian has sourced the project’s lyrics from his father and grandmother’s writings about their lives in Turkish Armenia and the United States. These now-lyricized writings tell the family’s story of love, despair, displacement, survival, and resilience as they are violently uprooted from their home during the 1915 Armenian Genocide, and forced to emigrate to America, a journey that extended into 1921.

Raffi Garabedian - Tenor Saxophone, Voice on "Three Gold Liras"
Danielle Wertz - Voice
Jonathan Beshay - Flute, Tenor Saxophone
Ben Goldberg - Clarinet
Danny Lubin-Laden - Trombone
Dierk Peters - Vibraphone, Glockenspiel
Rashaan Carter - Electric Bass
Sean Mullins - Drums, Percussion

Tracklist:
1.01 - Raffi Garabedian - The Armenian Question (2:32)
1.02 - Raffi Garabedian - A Mother's Letter (4:03)
1.03 - Raffi Garabedian - Escape to Erzurum (5:23)
1.04 - Raffi Garabedian - The Closet Playwright (4:44)
1.05 - Raffi Garabedian - Three Gold Liras (5:03)
1.06 - Raffi Garabedian - Ten Acres (2:44)
1.07 - Raffi Garabedian - First Trip to Fresno (1931) (3:51)
1.08 - Raffi Garabedian - March 17, 1927 (4:01)
1.09 - Raffi Garabedian - March 18, 2020 (0:50)
1.10 - Raffi Garabedian - Contrapuntal Bewilderment (4:33)