Label: Sounderscore Records, 2020
Personnel - Lionel Loueke: guitar; Massimo Biolcati: bass; Ferenc Nemeth: drums.
The cooperative trio Gilfema features the same musicians of Lionel Loueke Trio, with the particularity that the recorded material is penned by all the three members. This world jazz collective, which besides the acclaimed Benin-born guitarist also includes Swedish-Italian bassist Massimo Biolcati and Hungarian drummer Ferenc Nemeth, hadn't released an album since 2008, returning now with 13 cuts filled with rhythmic panache and eclectic crosscurrents.
Fronting the operations, Loueke is an inimitable force of nature, whose musicality benefits from the sometimes cool, sometimes animated lyricism of his partners. Highly rhythmic titles such as “Lé”, “Brio” and “Aflao” are very much representative of the West African music tradition, here fused with contemporary jazz elements. The opener, “Têkê”, also falls into this category, but it’s a quite special one, boasting peculiar nylon-stringed guitar sounds wrapped in marvelous effects, in conjunction with strong hi-hat manifestations and snappy bass moves.
All the aforementioned compositions have the signature of Loueke, with the exception of “Brio”, which he co-penned with Biolcati. The pair collaborated in three other, but the highlight is the odd-metered “13th Floor to Heaven”, a.more jazzified, deliberately paced oddity devised with a relaxing mood, intervallic patterns of great quality and noteworthy vocals forming dulcet unisons with the guitar.
Equally navigating through undisturbed waters, Loueke’s “Dear JL” and Nemeth’s “Requiem For a Soul” are synonyms of a hybrid jazz sophistication. The former, aligned in 5/4 time, has tight brushwork and malleable bass maneuvers underpinning Loueke’s inspired guitar work, whereas the latter, pulsating in seven, showcases the group’s infallible communication. Nemeth also composed “Happiness”, a Fela Kuti-like exercise whose blend of wah-wah funk and afrobeat supports synth-laden melodies and improvisatory segments alike.
Loueke’s fantastic expressionism has the ability to hypnotize, and his peerless vision catches the ear again on a superlative acoustic rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s ballad “Little Wing”, a piece to listen over and over again.
Embracing interesting and viable musical forms, Gilfema is the artistic expression of world jazz sculptors gifted with varied talents and enjoying full maturity.
Grade A-
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Têkê ► 02 - Little Wing ► 12 - Requiem For a Soul