Nguyên Lê Trio: Silk and Sand

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Chris Jennings
Rhani Krija (perc, v)
Etienne Mbappé (b)
Miron Rafajlović (t, flhn)
Sylvain Barou (bansuri fl, duduk)
Nguyên Lê (g, syn, v)

Label:

ACT Music

April/2023

Media Format:

CD, LP, DL

Catalogue Number:

9967

RecordDate:

Rec. 16–19 October 2022

Nguyên Lê has such touch and feel that it's hard not to be seduced into the dancing delicacies of his sound world, especially on the storming opener here, ‘Red City’. The title track takes us into a more thoughtful jazz idiom, although it reminds us the many voiced guitarist can rock out with the best, while ‘Onety-One’ is a right little funker with a lovely percussion break. The contrast with the lush flute, evoking a morning raga, on ‘Tiger's Dance’ couldn't be a greater contrast. The funk bounces back on ‘Baraka’, perfect for an Mbappé stellar contribution with Lê now showboating his best Mike Stern incendiaries.

Yet there's something a little stiff-legged, perhaps induced by the fact all the musicians recorded remotely, a little too knowing in the breadth of musics folded into the mix. But focus down on Lê flowing over Krija's Moroccan rhythms and you think, well, who cares, let's go with it.

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