Jazz

Nguyen Le - Purple - Celebrating Jimi Hendrix (2003)

2009-10-19T18:42:22Z

Nguyen Le - Purple - Celebrating Jimi Hendrix (2003)


01. 1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) (6:05)
02. Manic Depression (5:27)
03. Are You Experienced (6:13)
04. Purple Haze (5:19)
05. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (7:13)
06. If 6 Was 9 (4:06)
07. Voodoo Chile (slight return) (6:42)
08. South Saturn Delta (4:44)
09. Up From the Skies (3:48)
10. Third Stone from the Sun (5:44)


Nguyên Lê: guitars, guitar synth
Michel Alibo: electric bass (1, 2, 4-6, 8-10)
Meshell Ndegeocello: electric bass (3, 7)
Terri Lyne Carrington: drums, vocals (1, 4, 8, 9)
Bojan Zulfikarpasic: acoustic piano (1), Fender Rhodes (6)
Aida Khann: vocals (2, 6, 7)
Corin Curschellas: vocals (3, 10)
Karim Ziad: gumbri and North African percussion (7)
Tino de Geraldo: percussion loop (3)
B'net Houaryiat: vocal and handclap samples (7)
Djyby Key: bambara adaptation (2, 6, 7).

Guitarist Nguyên Lê pays tribute to Jimi Hendrix by performing ten of the late rock innovator's songs on this 2002 CD. Lê plays in the tradition of Hendrix without directly copying him, being creative and stretching himself. The occasional vocals by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, Aïda Khann, and Corin Curschellas (which are sometimes spoken as much as sung) are unfortunately not as interesting and are mostly distracting. Bassist Michel Alibo is excellent during his solos and Lê shows originality in his improvisations, but the music overall is more heartfelt than essential, particularly since Hendrix's own records are easily available. ---Scott Yanow, Rovi

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Nguyen Le - Songs of Freedom (2011)

2018-12-05T14:01:19Z

Nguyen Le - Songs of Freedom (2011)


1 	Eleanor Rigby	7:04

Erhu – Guo Gan
Lead Vocals – Youn Sun Nah
Percussion – S. Edouard
Vocals – O. Danedjo

2 	I Wish	5:48

Lead Vocals – David Linx
Vocals – H. Paganotti, O. Danedjo
Vocals, Percussion – P. Edouard
Performer [Indian Rhythmic Arrangement] – Prabhu Edouard

3 	Ben Zeppelin	0:51

Electric Guitar [Fretless] – Nguyên Lê
Vocals – Dhafer Youssef

4 	Black Dog	6:22

Percussion – Stéphane Edouard
Vocals – Dhafer Youssef

5 	Pastime Paradise	8:03

Guimbri [Gumbri] – Hamid El Kasri
Lead Vocals – Ousman Danedjo
Percussion – K. Ziad
Vocals – H. Paganotti

6 	Uncle Ho's Benz	0:40

Electric Guitar, Sounds [Vietnam Street Sounds] – Nguyên Lê

7 	Mercedes Benz	6:25

Goblet Drum [Zarb] – Keyvan Chemirani
Lead Vocals – Himiko Paganotti
Vocals – D. Linx, J. Sarr, O. Danedjo

8 	Over The Rainforest	0:36

Acoustic Guitar [Prepared Vietnames Cai Luong Acoustic Guitar] – Nguyên Lê

9 	Move Over	7:01

Alto Saxophone – David Binney
Lead Vocals – David Linx
Percussion – S. Edouard

10 	Whole Lotta Love	5:18

Lead Vocals – Youn Sun Nah
Percussion [Karkabus] – K. Ziad
Tabla, Vocals [Indian Vocals] – Prabhu Edouard

11 	Redemption Song	5:29

Electric Guitar – Nguyên Lê
Vibraphone – Illya Amar
Vocals – Julia Sarr

12 	Sunshine Of Your Love	4:46

Drums, Percussion [Karkabus] – K. Ziad
Electric Guitar – N. Lê
Lead Vocals – Himiko Paganotti
Percussion – S. Edouard
Vibraphone, Marimba – I. Amar
Vocals, Electric Bass – L. Marthe

13 	In A Gadda Da Vida	5:25
14 	Topkapi	0:43

Acoustic Guitar [Baby 12 String Acoustic Guitar] – Nguyên Lê

15 	Come Together	5:47

Clarinet – Chris Speed
Percussion – S. Edouard
Vocals – D. Linx, H. Paganotti, J. Sarr, O. Danedjo

Drums – Stéphane Galland (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15)
Electric Bass, Vocals – Linley Marthe (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15)
Guitar, Computer – Nguyên Lê (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15)
Vibraphone, Marimba, Electronics – Illya Amar (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15)

“Songs of Freedom” is not my title. I borrowed it from Bob Marley, one of the world’s greatest musical figures. This album is a tribute to those musicians who established Pop Culture in the 70’s with their mythic songs. So mythic, that they now belong to everybody on the planet and so global that they are World Music i.e. “music the world listens to”.

Yet Music is like a bird: once released, it flies to every sky. The Earth becomes rounder and rounder, inviting cultures to chat and soak up one another. Hence, the freedom to make these songs our own. Still lovingly playing these original melodies with the audacity of new arrangements which celebrate the reign of imagination and fantasy.

Thus, a true jazz attitude combining collective traditions with the singularity of interpretation et improvisation. A contemporary point of view, aiming at chanting the flow of our crossed-over world and the energies of our changing identities. ---nguyen-le.com

For over twenty years, Nguyên Lê has collaborated with a growing cadre of like-minded musicians—mostly Paris-based, where the guitarist of Vietnamese origins resides—building a body of work that is, in the truest sense of the word, "world music." From the Afro-centric band Ultramarine, and exploration of his own roots on the seminal Tales from Vietnam (ACT, 1996), to recent explorations of a nexus where programming and spontaneity meet on Homescape (ACT, 2006), Lê has carved out a unique space—often fusion-like in its electricity and energy, but avoiding the negative connotations; undeniably jazz-centric, too, but largely eschewing overt references to traditionalism. These days, plenty of jazzers draw on pop music, but you'd be hard-pressed to find another taking a crack at one of the 1960s' most iconic—and, often, reviled—songs, Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida," as Lê does on Songs of Freedom.

With an unorthodox core quartet, reliant on mallet instruments for much of its chordal support, Lê tackles other '60s chestnuts, like Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love"—which, after a seemingly non sequitur introduction, filled with thundering percussion and wailing voices, turns relatively faithful, albeit at a brisker pace and with an uncharacteristic complexity of percussive detail. But once singer Himiko Paganotti gets past the first verse and chorus, the harmonic center shifts, and suddenly, with vibraphonist Illya Amar layering a shifting cushion of chords over bassist Linley Marthe's lithe underpinning, the song turns into an odd-metered solo feature for Lê, his mesh of oriental microtonality and occidental grit and grease moving in parallel with background vocal percussion, leading to a knotty, thundering finale.

As for "In A Gadda Da Vida," sure, its near-Jungian riff remains intact, but delivered on marimba, and driven by drummer Stéphane Galland's lithe 17/8 pulse, there's none of the original's gravitas, as Lê takes its preexisting Indo-centricity further, giving it an idiosyncratic arrangement; its chorus gradually building to staggering contrapuntal confluence and impressive solos from Lê and Amar, before a newly composed section leads to an ostinato-driven drum solo that avoids all the clichés of the original...all in a nice, compact five minutes.

Elsewhere, Lê tackles The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," with Youn Sun Nah making one of two guest appearances (the other, a tabla and konnakol-driven version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" ), the guitarist's swirling, ethereal guitar lines supporting the singer during an extended intro before the band enters, eastern linearity meeting western harmonies in Guo Gan's erhu and Lê's electric guitar, for a more subdued yet undeniably grooving album opener.

When it comes to interpreting music in a jazz context, freedom more often than not means improvisational freedom, and to be sure, Songs of Freedom has plenty of that. But clearly, for Lê, the concept has more to do with an unfettered prerogative to draw on what, in many cases, are the simplest of song forms, as grist for far more elaborate compositional reworks filled with pointillist detail. Songs of Freedom combines heartfelt respect with absolute irreverence, breathing an utterly different kind of life into these songs, four decades after they first hit the airwaves. ---John Kelman, allaboutjazz.com

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Nguyen Le Trio - Bakida (2000)

2009-10-19T18:45:05Z

Nguyen Le Trio - Bakida (2000)


01. Dding Dek (Nguyên Lê) 05:22
02. Madal (Nguyên Lê) 06:51
03. Encanto (Nguyên Lê) 05:45
04. Bakida (Nguyên Lê) 04:41
05. Chinoir (Nguyên Lê) 05:10
06. Noche y Luz (Nguyên Lê) 04:35
07. Feel Feliz (Fons) 04:59
08. Heaven (Borker) 05:20
09. Lü (Nguyên Lê) 06:10
10. Romanichel (Nguyên Lê) 05:03

Nguyên Lê (electric, acoustic and electroacoustic guitars, computer editing, programmed synths, mandolin and bendir on "Lê")
Renaud Garcia-Fons (acoustic 5-string bass)
Tino di Geraldo (drums, pandeiros, tablas, cajon, palmas)

One look at the liner notes to the Nguyên Lê Trio's latest disc and you know that Bakida is not going to be your typical jazz record. While Vietnamese guitarist Lê, who now lives in France, has dabbled in a variety of styles with a penchant towards the fusion side of the camp, his international flavour is what truly defines who he is. With a trio that includes Spaniards Renaud Garcia-Fons on acoustic five-string bass and Tino di Geraldo on drums and a variety of percussion, he is already mixing cultures. But check the guest list, which includes artists from the US, Norway, Algeria, Italy and Turkey, and you know this is going to be an affair that blends music from a variety of cultures, often within the confines of a single composition.

Take the opening track, "Dding Dek." With its tuned gongs, ney flute, marimba and tabla, there is already a blend of Middle Eastern and Oriental culture by the time Lê enters with a theme doubled by Garcia-Fons. But as quickly as a cosmopolitan ambience is established Geraldo switches to kit and Lê develops a solo that's equally rooted in rock and blues. Returning to the naive theme of the introduction, Le builds into an ascending chordal passage that is reminiscent of tunes like "Hope" and "Resolution" from John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra classic, Birds of Fire. And that's only the first track and, while it says a lot about Lê, it hardly tells all.

Lê has an uncanny way of blending ethnic themes with more Western-sounding harmonies. He demonstrates the link between Persia and the Celts with the theme to "Madal"; the tune ultimately settles into a funk workout where Lê solos with a clean Stratocaster-like tone before segueing into a more up-tempo but no less groove-centric workout for saxophonist Chris Potter, proving with his characteristically energetic solo that he can be more than merely a strong in-the-tradition player, ultimately building to a climactic motif that becomes a fitting coda to the piece.

Lê's style is an interesting amalgam of the usual fusion culprits, yet over the course of the past ten years he has emerged with a style that, by blending Eastern and Western sonorities, is unmistakably his own. And while there's a certain energy to his playing that might tie him to the fusion genre, his reach is far broader, avoiding its more bombastic trappings. "Romanichel" is a gorgeous trio with Lê (on acoustic guitar), bassist Garcia-Fons, and Norwegian pianist Jon Balke, last heard on his own magnificent Diverted Travels , demonstrating Lê's more spacious, impressionistic side. And the title track is a moody piece with a lengthy melody that leads into a solo where Lê tastefully combines rich chordal concepts with a restrained use of his whammy bar.

Bakida , recorded in '99 but only recently seeing North American release, is another fine record from an artist who truly defines the concept of world music, perfectly blending music from diverse cultures into a personal, contemporary mix.---John Kelman, allaboutjazz.com

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