Gilfema
‘Three’
Sounderscore
Don’t bother looking up the meaning of the word Gilfema. It’s a combination of syllables culled from the names of the jazz trio’s members: “Gil” for Gilles, the middle name of Benin-born guitarist Lionel Loueke; “fe” for Hungarian drummer Ferenc Nemeth, and “ma” for Swedish-Italian bassist Massimo Biolcati. That neologism is particularly appropriate because on “Three,” the group’s first album since 2008, the musicians play flawlessly as a unit. Start to finish, the CD is world-jazz music at its best.
Recorded spontaneously in one 12-hour session, the best of the resulting music was “cut and pasted” into the album’s 13 tracks. The only cover is a take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing,” with gorgeous harmonics by Loueke and inflected with Afican rhythms. My favorite track is “Têkê,” a Loueke original featuring a wonderfully stuttering guitar riff, cruising over Biolcati’s undulating bass lines and Nemeth’s complex grooves. If the great instrumentals are not enough, check out the gorgeous vocal harmonies on Loueke’s “Lé.”
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2020.
