Gilfema: Three

The longstanding trio of guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke, bassists Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth team up for another strong album that is impressive in both song composition, structure and soloing. The thirteen songs are fairly concise, emphasizing musicality of melody, but there is always room for impressive improvisation as well. Loueke’s patented West African lilt on his strings work well on the calypso’d “Brio” and teams with his voice on the lilting “Le’” while he gets rocking with a synthy sound on the fusioned “Until”. Nemeth snaps well to Loueke’s picks on a hip take of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and gives a military pulse on the Sahel-sounding “Alfao”. Biolcati gives a rich groove to some wacka-wooka guitar on the rocking “Happiness” and is cool laying down a path for Nemeth’s high hat on the exotically swinging “Teke”. It is fascinating how they can develop a wide range of tones and colors yet still retain a fingerprint sound. If you haven’t ever seen them in concert, consider this an invitation.

www.gilfema.com

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