Tunisian-born oud performer/vocalist
Dhafer Youssef attains a happy medium while integrating the oud (an Arabic lute instrument) with jazzy grooves and wide-ranging improvisational forums. On this outing, the artist crafts an appealing worldbeat/jazz scenario partly due to his nimble plucking and mood-evoking unison choruses with trumpeter
Markus Stockhausen. There's also a drum'n'bass element here, as the leader utilizes the talents of ex-
Living Colour rhythmic aces
Will Calhoun (drums) and
Doug Wimbish (bass). Jazz guitarist
Wolfgang Muthspiel adds textural patterns to many of these pieces while embarking on a pleasant mainstream jazz-based solo passage on the piece entitled "Farha."
Youssef also displays a multi-octave vocal range on several tracks -- as he renders wordless vocals that often conjure up notions of religiously inclined mantras. A good portion of this affair features lightly rumbling percussion vamps intertwined with North African modalities and alternating dialogue among the soloists. A nice effort that ages well upon repeated spins. ~ Glenn Astarita