Customer Reviews

Lingua Franca (Hybr)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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 .