Levon Ichkhanian

Although his superb After Hours session of 1997 focused mainly on fusion, Levon Ichkhanian is a flexible player who is also knowledgeable of hard bop, classical, and Middle Eastern music. Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, Ichkhanian is of Armenian descent and is the son of jazz pianist Edouard Ichkhanian, who became musical director for Armenian singer Adiss in 1974 and did a great deal to popularize modern jazz-influenced Armenian pop. Ichkhanian, who was 12 when the family moved from Lebanon to Toronto in 1977, started out on acoustic classical guitar as a preteen, but moved ...