(www.xylourisensemble.net) Greece may be a financial basket-case, but its cultural wealth remains boundless, and an instrument like the three-string Cretan lyra seems to offer an immediate link to the dawn of European civilisation. In fact this ancestor of the violin family may be only 1100 years old, but its sound,…
Category: Album Reviews – Archive
Daniel Rosenboom Quintet: Fire Keeper (Orenda) Steve Gadd Band: Gadditude (BFM/Planet) Kim Lawson Quartet: Hey Day (Yum Yum Tree) Taste is a handy attribute: you can be sure that you have it and those who disagree with you do not. It allows you to poke fun at, say, Michael Bolton…
Permission To Evaporate (ABC) In his erudite liner notes Joseph Tawadros observes the oud is neither “ethnic” nor “Arabic”. Amen. An instrument is like a painter’s brush, and the limits are of the heart and imagination, not of prescribed traditions and techniques. Herein lies the wonder of Tawadros’s 11th album:…