John Fordham 

Erik Truffaz: Rendez-Vous

On this musical travelogue, Erik Truffaz is joined by Indrani Mukherjee, whose quiet musings wreathing over slow drones, and the bright, uptempo groover Yay! is one of the highlights, writes John Fordham
  
  


The big-selling (400,000 albums at the last count) French-Swiss ambient and fusion trumpeter Erik Truffaz tours the UK from 1-7 June with material from this three-disc album, accompanied by beatboxer Sly Johnson and drummer Philippe Garcia. Truffaz has long favoured uncluttered settings for his pristine Miles Davis-influenced horn meditations, and on this musical travelogue he's joined only by Johnson (for the Paris disc), Indian singer/tabla duo Indrani and Apurba Mukherjee with understated pianist Malcolm Braff, and Mexican electronica specialist Murcof. Johnson's instrument-mimicking Bobby McFerrinisms feature on funkily murmuring overdubbed tracks and bland accounts of Come Together and Nature Boy and – though the leader's catlike wah-wah and effortless register-skipping purity is fitfully arresting – it's pretty unchallenging fare for jazz fans. The Indian section is more interesting, with Indrani Mukherjee's quiet musings wreathing over slow drones, and the bright, uptempo groover Yay! (for piano, tablas and languidly zigzagging vocals) is one of the highlights. Murcof's electronics brew from distantly galloping hooves, to metal-door clangs, hi-hat hisses and sepulchral organ-pipe hums, and almost displace Truffaz in the Mexico part. Few ideas reach unexpected outcomes, but Truffaz regulars will probably find that a recommendation.

 

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