Lingua Franca (Hybr) [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Peter Epstein | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 9, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Songlines
• ASIN: B000A1IOB6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #428,880 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Epstein's greatest accomplishment, September 4, 2005

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Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lingua Franca (Hybr) (Audio CD)

Combining the sensibilities of his majorly enigmatic disc, The Invisible, with the mysterioso Sephardic leanings of his other great disc, Nascer, Peter Epstein has come up with a recording of great listenability and huge authority. Teaming with like-minded guitar maestro, Brad Shepik, and percussion wizard Matt Kilmer (a name new to me; a quick glance at his website notes that he's a student of the great Jamey Hadad [no surprise here] and that he plays a wide variety of world percussion including frame drum, kanjire, djembe, ocean drum, tabla, cajon, and hadjini, as well as drumset), Epstein in this band redefines hip, downtownish, Mediterranean world-jazz.

Strangely (or perhaps not so strangely), the cover of this disc-- displaying three Asians (Chinese, Indian, Malaysian?) in a small eating establishment, with a huge variety of hot sauces lining the counter and a shelf above a bank of windows, plus an inside disc sleeve photo displaying a basket of red peppers (I was shocked to find, on two posters displayed in a local Southwest eatery, that there are over 75 kinds of pepper)--gives the game away: tasty, spicy, world-jazz of the most beguiling and savory kind.

Make no mistake, this musical gallimaufry never fails to titillate the senses, be it through Indian raga/drone ("Two Door") or charming faux-East African blues ("Miro") or dirgelike neo-Klezmer filtered through some kind of Catholic Dies Irae-ish move ("Emerald," "Monsaraz") or downtown-Turkish romp ("Temoin") or wildly eclectic Mediterranean/Celtic ("Here & There") or sheer Eastern mysticism ("Kumanovo") or reggae-tinged Rasta-soaked vibes ("Sunrise") or Tibetan mysticism ("Meditation") or the esotericism of the hidden bonus track (not named). Indeed, the listener reels under the vast display of world-jazz musical virtuosity, lightly worn. The last time I remember encountering such a grand tour of jazz-beat sensibilities is with that spectacular disc Mulatos by the great Omar Sosa.

I'm completely blown away by this mesmeric music. Certainly among the very best world-jazz releases of this or any other year, it is perhaps topped only by the magnificence of John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble recording, A Blessing. Entirely worth picking up.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HIGH MENTALITY JAZZ, April 17, 2008

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K. Prousalis "papillon" (drama GREECE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lingua Franca (Hybr) (Audio CD)

PETER EPSTEIN is an artist which very few know his versatility to play in such a sophisticated and refined way .LINQUA FRANCA IS A MASTERPIECE A GEM OF GEMS AND ONE OF THE BEST JAZZ RECORDINGS EVER MADE.His best so far.BRAD SHEPIC ON GUITAR AND MATT KILMER IN A WIDE RANGE OF PERCUSSSIONIST TASKS ALONG WITH PETER S ALTO SAXOPHONE CREATE A DEEP AND WIDE MYSTIC MUSICAL LANDSCAPE OF THE FINEST WORLD JAZZ COLOURS EVER RAISED .