The sleeve of this rich, multi-faceted but consistently enjoyable album describes the contents thus: 'Al Orkesta fuses folk and ethnic styles with rock and jazz to produce a series of "off centre" musically interesting pieces that provide creative space for soloists', and points to various forms of traditional music as inspirational sources for its nine tracks. Leader/composer Joe Higham plays saxophone and clarinets, and encountered his bandmates; trumpeter Jean-Paul Estiévenart, guitarist Jacques Pirotton, bassist Olivier Stalon, drummer Stephan Pougin; while studying at the Brussels Conservatory, and Al Orkesta's open-eared incorporation of Turkish ('House of the Marriage'), Syrian ('Sai Fi-na Al-Lahda'), English ('The Slaves Lament') and klezmer ('Shpil-zhe mir a lidele') elements uncontrivedly into their pleasingly ebullient, infectiously rhythmic sound will surprise no one who's heard Aka Moon or the Wrong Object. What is notable, however, is the homogeneousness of the resultant approach, which packs all the punch of 1970s jazz/rock (Pirotton in particular fires off a series of eloquently powerful, almost Mike Stern-like solos), but also manages to retain both the breezy improvisational energy of jazz and the exhilarating whirl of Middle
Eastern and Balkan music. Regulars of the Vortex's East European nights will undoubtedly enjoy this album, but fans of everyone from Brotherhood of Breath to Nucleus and Soft Machine should also investigate it. |
