Gilfema + 2 » OBLIQSOUND 512
Only someone confined to a cave over the last few decades would not be
aware that jazz is an international music nowa- days. But many listeners still don’t know that its global reach has long eclipsed the yearning of foreign musicians to imitate the music invented here in the United States.
The most exciting development has been a rapid progression of jazz where far-flung players bring their own native traditions into the fold. Purists may scoff, but this phenomenon has injected the music with new energy and ideas. Although the trio known as Gilfema is based in the U.S., its members all hail from the other side of the pond. Singer and guitarist Lionel Loueke is from Benin, drummer Ferenc Nemeth is from Hungary and bassist Massimo Biolcati is Swedish–Italian. They all work together in Loueke’s acclaimed trio, but whereas that pro- ject sticks to its leader’s repertoire, here they all bring in material and more freely range outside of the jazz tradition— although its sensibility provides the music’ s guiding force.
The melodies are buoy- ant and celebratory, the rhythms danceable and spry, neatly blending African and European sources into a winning
hybrid that can’t be easily unraveled. But the focus is on the point where the cultures and these individuals come together. Located within the accessible grooves is a steady stream of high-level interaction and extended harmony. Loueke’s knack for adding vocals to his fluid guitar lines sounds freer here than with his own trio. For the group’s second album, the lineup was extended to a quintet, with the clarinets of Anat Cohen (an Israeli, upping the international quotient) and John Ellis. Their lines were clearly added to pre-existing tunes, but the arrange- ments add new twists to the tunes (or carry them on something like the tender “Morning Dew”), and their solos feel connected to the overall sound. —Peter Margasak
Gilfema + 2: Twins; Question Of Perspective; Your World; Salomé; LonLon Gnin; Morning Dew; Festa; Cove; One’s Mind’s Eye; Master Of The Obvious. (52:48)
Personnel: Lionel Loueke, vocals, guitar; Freenc Nemeth, drums; Massimo Biolcati, bass; Anat Cohen, clarinet; John Ellis, bass clarinet, ocarina.
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http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2009/DB0209/_art/DB0209.pdf