Professor Hafez Modirzadeh

Hafez Modirzadeh who was born in the U.S has been teaching at SJSU music department for few years. His specialty is American Jazz. Recently he has combined elements of Iranian traditional music with American Jazz. His Persian/American famous dabut "Raz'e Shams" with Hafez on ths Sax and Ramin Zoulfonoun on Piano was mainly supported by Doreh folks. Hafez along with his family,spent some 14 months in Iran trying to make a living. Eventhough, it was economically difficult, he has a lot of good stories to share with us.

Hafez Modirzadeh is a professor of music at San Jose State University. He is the recipient of several National Endowment for the Arts grants, one of which lead to the debut of "A Peoples Blues" (the first Persian-American jazz suite).

Modirzadeh is a first generation Iranian American who teaches the innovative Improvised Music Studies Program at San Jose State University. He has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, specializing in Middle Eastern, Asian, and Black American music.

Since 1983 he has been working on "Chromodal Discourse," a musical concept that incorporates both his Persian and American jazz heritage.

---

Doreh Home Page