Face-A-Face of the French trumpet wonder Erik Truffaz offers, in addition to live recordings of his band Ladyland and the Erik Truffaz Quartet, a DVD with live images and backstage material. With Ladyland, Truffaz mainly continues the path he took with Saloua (2005). Many North African influences and ditto vocals are processed in music that makes your mind wander to both vast desert plains and hectic
… world cities. The long, tenuous trumpet sounds make this concert a tough one now and then. The performance with his quartet is a lot more interesting and above all more versatile. Effortlessly you can navigate back and forth between jazz, funk and rock. This time he left the hip-hop influences at home, which gives the music a lot more depth. Rapper Nya is still there, but maneuvers his vocals over complicated fun rhythms, for which they have heard a lot of inspiration from Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. Face-A-Face gives a complete picture of the genius of Erik Truffaz, whereby especially the performance with his quartet consists of a succession of brilliant moments. (AD)more