(Contemporary Jazz, Guitar Jazz) Ulf & Eric Wakenius - Father And Son - 2017, MP3, 320 kbps

The two guitarists take the opportunity on “Father And Son” to explore and to exploit these multiple possibilities to the full: “Irish Vagabond” combines full-on Irish folk music with Arabic elements. “Mistral” is rhythmically punchy, almost like a rock tune, and also has echoes of Al Di Meola. In this tune Ulf Wakenius recounts an experience he had while on tour with Youn Sun Nah. At the Avignon Festival, a powerful wind from the South “almost blew me off the stage, so I decided to write a song about it.” Their “Eleanor Rigby” is captivating; as they honour the Beatles, they achieve a sonority remarkably close to a string quartet. “Paco’s Delight” pays tribute to the unforgettable Paco de Lucía, but their Spanish flamenco technique is also imbued with the buoyancy and verve of Django Reinhardt’s Hot Club swing. With their arrangement of the jazz-fusion classic “Birdland”, Ulf and Eric Wakenius remember another of the pantheon of musical immortals, Joe Zawinul. And finally, Eric Wakenius takes the listener by surprise as a highly persuasive singer in the album's title track by Cat Stevens, which deals with a tricky father-son relationship. “Eric and I are luckier - we don't have those problems,” says Ulf Wakenius. The song also justifies its place in the selection because Cat Stevens has a Swedish mother and a close connection to Sweden.
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He plays the guitar like he was born with it already in his hands, was how John McLaughlin once praised Ulf Wakenius. So as a father Ulf did actually place a guitar in the crib of his baby son Eric or not…here they now are as a duo in Father And Son . This personal album is a virtuoso conversation in the art of contemporary jazz guitar. They can swing, or play gentle ballads together, or go extrovert and percussive. They can tell stories from far-off lands, or sometimes from their Swedish homeland…Ulf and Eric Wakenius have a sensitivity and a sense of atmosphere which creates magical guitar moments.