Eric Legnini and the Afro Jazz Beat: Sing Twice!

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Da Romeo (g)
Franck Agulhon (d, perc)
Thomas Bramerie (b)
David Donatien (perc)
Julien Alour (t, flhn)
Eric Legnini (p, syn, Hammond B3)
Xavier Tribolet (Nord Modular G2)
Emi Meyer (v)
Boris Pokora (bs, ts, fl)
Jerry Edwards
Hugh Coltman (v)
Jerry Edwards (tb)
Mamani Keïta (v)

Label:

Discograph

March/2013

Catalogue Number:

6158176

RecordDate:

2012

‘File Under: Jazz’, says the press release. But this new disc from Belgian keysman Eric Legnini, who first emerged on the French trio scene before picking up a Victoire du Jazz award for The Vox (2011), is at most jazz-pop. That's not a criticism, but tracks such as ‘Salisbury Plain’, ‘Snow Falls’, ‘Yan Kadi’ and ‘Cinecittà’ are more likely to put you in mind of Stevie Wonder, Radiohead, Fela Kuti and Air than any other jazz artist. Soul, alt-rock, Afrobeat and ambient electro-pop are all in the mix here, and Legnini has recruited a diverse trio of singers to provide appropriate vocals for the various stylistic furrows he's ploughing: impressively, Hugh Coltman can do both Stevie-like soulful wonder and Thom Yorke-style dread and paranoia, Malian Mamani Keïta leads the hypnotically funky ‘The Source’ as well as ‘Yan Kadi’, and American-Japanese singer Emi Meyer lends a winning folk feel to ‘Winter Heron’. Assisted by a variety of side players, Legnini provides accompaniment on a range of keyboards, from analogue synths to plain old piano. You could complain that the resulting dish is neither musical fish nor flesh, but the melodies are strong and the arrangements coolly efficient, and numbers such as ‘We Love Shibuya’ have an EST-type freshness and accessibility about them. Indeed, marketed shrewdly, Sing Twice! (I don't understand the title) could turn into a crossover hit and provide a key soundtrack to the spring.

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