Five albums into his recording career, things seem to be progressing nicely for Beirut-born, Paris-based trumpeter/composer Ibrahim Maalouf. The press release says he's the highest-selling French instrumentalist of the past three years. I really enjoyed his last outing, Wind, which drew explicitly on Miles Davis' Ascenseur pour l'Echaffaud soundtrack, offsetting the noir-ish ambience with fresh Middle Eastern colours courtesy of Maalouf's deployment of a quartertone trumpet. I like this new one, Illusions, too, which pushes more in the direction of funk-rock fusion. It's is a concept album. As the lengthy liner notes explains: ‘This album starts with the most tragic view of the world: cynicism. It then gradually evolves towards light and hope.’ Whether you're interested in the underlying musical story or not, the band make a compelling sound, and when, on the likes of ‘Unfaithful’, the trumpeters all line up and François Delporte starts thrashing away at his six-string, they make a big, dynamic sound that could light up a very big stage indeed.